The Devil's Guide
by Hitomi Zotz
Summary: Bombs, drugs, sex slaves and gun trade and it all leads to one man- Emmanuel Trevino- a man who seems unstoppable because no one can find the secret routes he uses to trade. James Bond assists Felix Leiter in finding an in through Trevino's captive Kendall McKenna. Kendall is an expert cartographer which makes the CIA think she's more than a prisoners will she help the spies?
1. Chapter 1- Missing in Mexico

_Set after Tomorrow Never Dies but mixing Bond films and novels. Felix Leiter is based on the novel version (pre shark attack) with influence from the Jack Lord portrayal in Dr. No. James Bond is Pierce Brosnan esq but with some influence from the others. Please read and review!  
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* * *

James Bond entered his superior M's office with a tired ease mixed with apathy that came from experience and repetitiveness. It was another murky morning and he had decided, after crossing a busy street beneath a drizzle that was threatening to turn into a downpour, that he would accept whatever admonishment M had for him now if it meant a potential mission to somewhere less grim and grey.

The middle aged English agent was a little surprised to find American CIA agent Felix Leiter standing there just before M's desk. He looked to Felix with a small smile and greeted, "morning Felix." The bigger surprise was that James felt happy to see his overseas ally, it was a subdued happiness but it was there. It had been a long time since they had last spoken and only now did James realise he had in fact missed the American. He supposed dryly it was because Felix was one of the very few people who understood the nature of espionage, the dangers and the loss, and thus he was one of the very few people James could be honest with.

"Morning James," Felix retorted. As he spoke his Texan accent came through as a light flavouring to his generic American accent. With MI6 Felix could let a sliver of his real self show.

James flickered his dark cerulean gaze in M's direction. He offered the MI6 head a harmless smile before greeting her as well. "Good morning M." M was the one woman who was unwaveringly immune to James' charm but the agent was ever hopeful that one day she might thaw. He supposed privately that if she ever did she would only become less appealing to him, her stoic no nonsense attitude was part of the reason why she held his respect.

"Bond," she retorted bluntly. M was seated behind a wide mahogany table with a sleek, black laptop open before her. The desk was as professional and void of the personal touch as M herself. It had a wireless, black office phone resting in the charger at the end and beside it a hooded lamp with a flexible metal stem that was currently off and poised above an open case file. M didn't tolerate clutter, what was on her desk was her focus and she wasn't one for creating a 'for later' pile of notes, it was now or it was never.

"Am I going to be offered a much deserved, all expenses paid vacation to the States?" James quipped with mock hope.

M gave the agent a frown in retort. "No Bond you're going to be offered a job there."

"Are you friends slacking Felix?" James queried teasingly as he glanced over at the foreign agent.

Felix grinned back at James amicably and shook his head. "We've got a shared interest in this one James," he explained.

"The bomb in Leeds and the massacre in Sheffield," M alluded. "They were both enough of a mess that it was difficult to figure out the real target in all the carnage."

"Not just a terrorist act then?" James queried innocently with a raised eyebrow.

M's frown deepened. "If you're being sardonic don't and if you're not you're getting rusty 007," she scolded him quickly, "in which case you can find yourself a desk job. Neither attack was fixed around an obvious landmark or event, the one in Leeds took out eight town houses and left only ash and rubble, which is why it took so long figuring out a motive."

"So who were they after?"

"Drug dealers," Felix answered bluntly, "in the case of Leeds we now have reason to believe Texan fugitive Samuel Briggs was one of the causalities. He was a top heroin supplier back home before he vanished," Felix explained. "Sheffield we don't know any names yet but your guys turned up enough evidence to suggest there was heroin supplying going on there too."

"Isn't this D.E.A territory?" James queried warily.

"Usually and they have had their say in it," Felix replied wearily, "but the man they all link to is much more than a run of mill drug baron. Plus, when he took it international he made it CIA business."

James glanced from Felix to M, Felix looked tired and tense and had noticeably aged since James had last seen him. It had James pondering if Felix noticed a change in him, he didn't feel the stress of the years that had passed by since he had last seen the American but he wondered if he had just become numb to it.

"Emmanuel Trevino," Felix explained, "man has a finger in every pot- drugs, weapons and, we suspect, people too. Problem is no one can figure out his routes, we've tried to catch his men with illegal goods but they dodge us every time. He crosses borders and oceans with no difficulty, the man has friends in high places, that we know."

"Alright," James murmured, "so where do we begin?"

M turned the open file around and pushed it across the desk.

James stepped forward and felt an odd jolt run through him. Two glossy pictures shone back at him. The one on the left depicted the glamorous, beautiful and now very much dead Paris Carver. In the picture she was youthful, her dark brown hair up in tight, flattering curls, a tight, dark blue dress on to flatter every curve and a wide smile across her face that didn't quite reach her bitter stare. The picture on the right depicted a younger woman, this one just as jaded and unsmiling. She had dark brown eyebrows that gave away her copper hair as a dye job, honey-vanilla skin suggesting that her heritage held something other than Caucasian in it and turquoise eyes that gleamed with intelligence. James looked from the redhead to Paris once more though it cost him to see her smiling face knowing that he would never see it in the flesh again. There was a resemblance there, something in the mouth perhaps though the redhead was unsmiling, or perhaps the nose, James couldn't quite put his finger on it but for all their differences there was a suggest of familial ties too.

"Who is she?" James queried.

"Kendall McKenna," M retorted calmly. "Younger half-sister to your Paris."

'My Paris,' James thought dully, 'only fleetingly.'

"And what has she to do with all this?" James asked.

"She's a hostage of Trevino's," Felix answered, "why we don't know-"

"We can worry about the why later," M interrupted frostily. "At this very moment this girl is in Mexico City and American intelligence knows which hideout she's going to."

"Emmanuel isn't with her unfortunately so we can't get him," Felix explained, "but if we can get Miss McKenna out cleanly then maybe we can finally get him."

James looked from Felix to M with an unhidden suspicion. "Why would the CIA let England help with this? Surely they want to get this girl alone so they can find this Trevino man and have all the credit for themselves."

Felix gave an uncomfortable smile at this. "Call this an unofficial request for aid," he retorted awkwardly. "He caused mayhem in two of your cities, you deserve to be in on it."

"And you knew the girl's sister," M voiced the obvious in a firm tone that made it clear she would hear no objection. "We don't know what her role is yet or how willing she will be to talk."

"I'm sure the CIA has ways to make people talk," James answered coldly. He did not like where this was heading and despite himself he was rattled by the image of Paris, he wanted no reminder of her or his role in her demise.

"Honey is better than vinegar 007 and if there's one thing you're actually good at it's charm," M answered. Her expression of mild disgust made it clear how much it cost her to admit her admiration for James' charm aloud.

"So what, go to Mexico, get the girl and charm a confession out of her about Trevino?" James queried bitingly. "And what if she has nothing to confess?"

"According to her file Kendall McKenna has a masters in Geography and History, her topics of interest were the Americas, particularly South America and Mexico and she has served as a tour guide in France, a surveyor in Spain and she is a qualified cartographer. Additionally she is known to be fluent in French and Spanish, given her half-Mexican heritage that's no surprise," M replied bluntly. "She has something to confess 007."

"Emmanuel is shipping his products somehow," Felix murmured, "he has routes we can't find."

"You said she was his hostage not his ally," James countered, "that you don't know why he's taken her."

"She went to Mexico for a break after her sister's alleged suicide two years ago," M answered with an icy stare. "It's believed Trevino became aware of her in his territory, learned of her skills and then took her hostage. As I said, worry about the why later."

"Two years," James replied bluntly. He looked to Felix this time with an icy and curious stare.

"No one knew he had her until now," Felix explained, "one day she was in Mexico seeing the sights and the next she wasn't. Her boyfriend filed a missing persons case but Mexico has dozens of them a day, tourists go missing. It was only when she was spotted being moved by his men and later identified that we realised."

"Two years is a long time to be a prisoner," James commented calmly.

Felix met his gaze with equal calm and nodded. "I know," he retorted quietly.

"When do we leave?" James asked as he looked back to M for direction.

"Today, you and Agent Leiter here will be sharing the eight p.m flight out from London, direct to Mexico. Make sure you go to Q branch first."

"Right." James nodded and turned back to Felix again. He felt a sliver of relief to banish the photograph of Paris from sight.

"I've things to do," Felix remarked with a purposeful vagueness. "I'll meet you on the plane."

"See you there," James answered with another small smile. He headed out of the office, bypassing the moon eyed Moneypenny with only the briefest nod. The image of Paris was no longer before him but her face was now as clear as a bell in his mind. Worse was that it was more than an image, it was a scent of the lavender perfume she favoured, the harsh tone of her voice when she had greeted him at her husband's party, the sting of her slap on his cheek, the feel of her soft skin as he ran his fingers down her bare back... 'Stop James,' he thought bluntly.

It was sad, Paris had never meant much to him. She had been a brief two month fling in Europe and then business, as always, had called him away. He had left her in Europe with the parting words 'I'll be right back' it had been cruel but not purposeful, he had meant it. How could he have known work would call? He hadn't thought of her when he had left her, not even an inkling and when they had met again she was married to a man of interest to MI6 and James had felt only a physical stirring for her, nothing emotional. Then she had been murdered, fallen foul of her husband for knowing James and lying about it, even now James wasn't certain if it had been because he was a secret agent and Elliot had suspected Paris had knowledge of that fact or if jealousy and rage at her infidelity had led to Elliot Carver having her killed. James knew her death wasn't entirely his fault but she was yet another to add to the list of women who had died for knowing him and he was starting to feel the guilt of all those deaths.

The agent told himself as he entered the lift and hit the basement button for Q Branch that it was merely the surprise of seeing her face again and the idea that she had family out there, someone else who had known her. James realised coldly that he knew very little about the majority of women he bedded save what he had to know. If it was relevant to a case he knew it, otherwise he didn't even bother to vet them, the idea of bedding a potential enemy did cause a certain thrill after all and he liked mystery. He wondered dully if during his two month stint with Paris she had mentioned her half-sister. He supposed she probably had and he, uncaring to her family background, had promptly forgotten the information to make space for something important.

The lift binged open and he exited to a chilled corridor lit up with square panels of light in the ceiling and formed of plain, off-white walls and polished tiles that matched the dull off-white shade. Down here the scientists worked, hidden from the upper world of admin, safe from the public eye to carry out experiments in safety bunkers of steel and concrete where they could only pose a danger to themselves. Down here was the backbone of MI6 where the real work was carried out, where intel was gathered and tools vital to the job were created. It was vital to the organisation and James appreciated their work but equally it was a place he preferred to avoid as nothing was ever quite as it seemed and it made the agent feel a rare state of unsafe and unsure. Down here James was most definitely not in control, Q and his scientists were and James didn't exactly enjoy relinquishing control to the highly intelligent but slightly eccentric firearms expert.

Q was a title rather than a name, short for Quartermaster, the actual Q was one Major Boothroyd, a tall, fair skinned man with white, receding hair, bushy grey eyebrows and clear grey eyes. As James entered Q's domain the gadgets expert was quick to regard the agent with the same irritation one did a disobedient child. He was wearing a coal grey suit with a white shirt and red tie, his white hair was flat and smooth in a neat comb-over and at James' arrival his brow gained several new wrinkles.

"Bond," he greeted bluntly.

"Q," James retorted with a wide, innocent smile. His smile had as much effect on Q as it did on M. Sometimes it was difficult to tell who disapproved of Bond the most, the MI6 head or the weapons expert.

"I don't have much for you," Q murmured crossly, "not a lot of notice. This way." He waved James on passed numerous scientists and gadgets, each probably more fascinating than the last though Bond barely took them in. Ordinarily he enjoyed tinkering with them if only to vex Q just a little or to give into the schoolboy curiosity for toys that dwelled within him but with the late Paris on his mind all he wanted to do was get his stuff and go.

"Rolex," Q instructed as he opened a box containing an expensive looking wristwatch. "Press the top button on the right and it can record up to two hours of audio, press the button beneath it and you have a compass. Button on the left is a laser, it can cut through steel but has limited firepower. Be careful to mix them up." He snapped the box shut before handing it over.

James accepted the watch gratuitously as they moved on to a phone. An Ericsson mobile, it unlocked for his fingerprint alone, it had a GPS system, an internal tracking device, it could take high quality pictures and send them back for identification at rapid speed and it had a detachable lockpick, much like the phone he'd used in Vietnam.

Q's final gift was a Walther PPK. James ran a finger over the gun and felt an odd fondness. For a while he had used a Walther P99, courtesy of Chinese intelligence but whilst it had served its purpose it just wasn't the same as the familiar PPK. He plucked up the black pistol and gave it a quick inspection. "Any additions for this?" he queried.

"Nope," Q answered calmly, "just do your usual, point, shoot and hope for the best."

James rewarded Q with another smile. "Thanks."

* * *

Mexico City

There was a loud screech as rubber burned along the busy streets of Paseo de la Reforma. A blur of deep blue followed as a 1969 Ford Mustang roared around the roundabout of the Angel of Independence. The statue shone gold in the afternoon sun, a beacon in a busy city it took a lot to detract from its beauty but the mustang and the police car sirens singing after it provided a worthy opponent for attention.

James glanced up in the rear view mirror before shaking his head. Just three cop cars, it was child's play. He welcomed the rush as he urged the Mustang down the crowded roads of Mexico City's grand avenue, the Paseo de la Reforma.

James swung the Mustang out without warning sending pedestrians scattering with screams of alarm. Two mopeds were forced to come to a sudden halt, one falling hard against the pavement sending its rider rolling across the path's tiles with several curses. James barely noticed as he hit the accelerator.

"So much for subtly James," his passenger, Felix, groaned.

A blue Audi A5 came at them from the opposite direction. Its male driver blasted at his horn angrily whilst spitting unheard curses. As he hit his brakes James finally swerved the Mustang back to the correct lane. With another screech of tyres and barely an inch to spare the Mustang made it back to the right lane and speeded off again.

The Mustang hurried along barely avoiding a cyclist and another handful of pedestrians before the Cuauhtémoc monument loomed into view as James heard sirens again. He looked up in the mirror and frowned, one cop car was still coming.

They had arrived in Mexico just under an hour ago. Felix had procured the car, a little old fashioned for James' tastes the English spy had still insisted upon being the driver much to the CIA agent's chagrin. For the first thirty minutes things had been fine and then the cops had appeared. James had contemplated stopping assuming it was simple native paranoia until Felix had spied the already raised guns of the police. Grumbling about Trevino having corrupt cops on his payroll he had urged James to ditch them as fast as possible.

James was still expecting an easy ditch and run, it was just one police car, a battered 2010 Dodge Charger, not exactly a racing car. He looked ahead gauging the road and its many potential routes. He wondered which one he could ditch the cop in fastest.

He punched the gear stick up again and realised as a thrill of excitement flooded through him that he had been missing this adrenaline rush.

The rush shifted from one of joy to a prickle of irritation when he found himself charging towards a blockade. Didn't the Mexican police have someone better to be occupying their time with? Could this really be linked to Trevino?

The Mustang screeched again as James swung the steering wheel round causing the car to do a 180 putting himself directly face to face with his cop pursuer. The Dodge Charger had just one occupant, a young female driver with a heavy set scowl.

The Dodge came straight towards the Mustang. James noticed the addition to the front of it a little too late, thick iron bars with small hooks at the bottom, not exactly standard for police cars. He hit the reverse in time to lessen the blow of the impact but he could not prevent it. There was a terrible clanging sound as the metal hooks rammed hard into the Mustang's bonnet, ensnaring it.

BANG! BANG!

The police woman was hanging out her side window with a Glock 17 in hand. She was shooting!

BANG! BANG!

James cursed as he heard the bang and hiss that followed. The back right tyre had been shot out.

BANG! The front right tyre was deflated.

James glanced up in his mirror once more, the other police were out now, armed and ready to attack if necessary. "Plan Felix?" he queried calmly. "I'm guessing returning fire is out of the question."

"We have our own version of Q branch you know," Felix retorted brightly as he tugged out a set out of keyrings from his left trouser pocket. One was a black 8 snooker ball. "Hands up in surrender, get out slow and then on my count get ready to move."

James muttered several curses before cutting the engine and holding his hands up in surrender. Trusting in his friend he waited for the officers to get the just of surrender and hoped they weren't going to shoot anyway.

The fierce eyed police woman barked at them in Spanish. Understanding it to mean 'come out slow with your hands up' James and Felix obeyed.

They were at opposing sides of the car with their backs vulnerable to the other officers, James didn't like it one bit and he wondered what Felix had planned.

"On three James," Felix murmured in a low voice. "One, two, three."

There was a small click and then a burst of smoke. James had to admire it, a smoke bomb, crude but effective. The agents moved quick, James veering to the left and Felix to the right just before the startled gunfire erupted.

It took two hours of sweating on the streets of Mexico City before the agents were reunited. They reconciled on the outskirts of the city after a brief, coded phone call between them to arrange it. Felix arrived last with his straw hair out in all directions thanks to the humidity and sweat trickling down his fair skin as he greeted James with a slight pant.

James sat outside a small cafe on a white painted stool looking pristine. James wore all weather well- humidity, cold, rain, wind- none of it ever seemed to affect James' appearance much. It had Felix wondering if James suffered from vanity a little more than he would perhaps admit. Only a man conscious of appearance could still look unruffled even after running through Mexico City in the summer heat evading the local police.

"I've got another car," Felix announced, "and I'm driving this time."

James gave his companion a slight frown. "Very well," he murmured as he stood, "but let's try to avoid any more trouble."

Felix frowned back at the agent. "You're the one who drew the police on us."

"I wasn't even speeding," James murmured in protest.

The pair headed to the edge of the city where a dusty, beaten Dodge sat. It wasn't a police car mercifully but was instead a plain, rundown, black beast of a car.

"Felix-" James began a protest.

Felix waved him off with his left hand. "Inconspicuous James," he retorted, "learn it."

James lasted twenty minutes in the car before the sticky, leather seat and the stuffiness began to get to him. "Can you at least turn the air con on?" he quipped pointedly. The afternoon heat was merciless. In the Mustang he had been able to forget it but now he was beginning to feel suffocated by it.

"Doesn't work," Felix answered merrily. He looked the better of the two now, linen shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbows, ovular black shades on to block out the sun and an aura of tranquillity as he hummed along to the static plagued Spanish song coming out through the radio. James just appeared uncomfortable, unhappy at not being in control of the vehicle, on edge as he was in an unfamiliar territory and uneasy at the thought of having come up on the police radar already.

The drive continued for another scorching four hours, taking them out of the city and into the unknown of Mexico, at least unknown for James. He frowned out at the scenery as the sweat poured down his skin.

The English agent considered asking more about Trevino but he knew whatever Felix had to tell him he would tell him in his own damn time. Felix and the CIA in general could be a pain like that, selective with information, sharing only when they deemed it necessary. James supposed MI6 wasn't much different and he considered it a pity that they all couldn't get on just a little better. If people shared more they might get surprised less.

To James' relief the car finally pulled off the roads to sit comfortably behind a low cluster of trees. "Now we walk," Felix announced.

They stepped out to an air dead and stifling hot and started walking up the edge of a path of golden stones to reach a property nestled on a low hill, hidden behind tall, dark green trees and a low mist. Framed by mountains and dormant volcanos the scene was picturesque but James was too hot, tired and fed up to even notice.

There was a rundown, wooden barn sitting at the bottom of the hill within the grounds of the property, it was just visible above low stone walls with spiked iron fencing on top of them.

The house on the hill was two storeys tall, large and made of brick, guarded by the iron fence and two black, nondescript jeeps near the entrance, which consisted of two iron gates and an intercom system.

James and Felix paused in the shade of the trees to study the entrance. There were two men on patrol, both dressed in plain clothes and armed with a single gun holstered at their belts. They paced about with disinterest, one pausing to swat at what James assumed was a fly.

"She'll be in the barn," Felix murmured in a low voice.

James looked at his companion inquisitively. "How can you be so sure?"

Felix grinned back. "Intel."

"And how many other people does intel say are on the property?"

Felix shrugged at this. "No one's at home yet, this is just a pass by house, Trevino doesn't stay here, it's for his men to hide out in when they're on business in the city."

"Doesn't answer the question Felix," James grumbled.

"Well it would spoil the fun if we knew, wouldn't it James?" Felix answered teasingly.


	2. Chapter 2- Foul Smelling Exit

James had been prepared for two things- hostiles and a hostage but whilst there were certainly hostiles he wasn't so sure about the hostage. He had forced the barn doors open amidst a chorus of gunfire, leaving Felix to cover him whilst he aimed his pistol inwards preparing for enemies. The first thing he noticed was one man on the ground and the second thing was the woman.

Turquoise eyes, it was the first thing James noticed about the woman, warm and bright like a tropical ocean, they should have been inviting but instead they were abhorrent, both terrified and repulsive. Her gaze was wide, her pupils almost engulfing the turquoise irises into darkness as she took him and his gun in. Blood streaked down her wary face, bruises showed at her legs and she had her left wrist raised whilst her right hand cradled it.

James arched a dark eyebrow as he realised her predicament. One metal cuff hung limp against the wall from a long, iron chain but the other was still around her left wrist. A low click told him the lock on it was now free but she remained carefully still, uncertain of him and his motives.

"James hurry up!" Felix called inwards before a curse and gunfire followed.

"Miss McKenna," he addressed her, hoping that familiarity might put her at ease. "We're here to help you," James explained to the woman hastily. There was blood trickling down her brow and swelling in its centre. Her resemblance to Paris was faint but James still noticed it, it was jarring. James looked to the man unconscious on the ground and wondered, 'how did she knock him out?' He glanced back at and spied a dark, shining stain on the heel of her right boot. The thought that she had kicked the man into unconsciousness prompted a small, coy smile from him.

"Who are you?" she demanded as she tugged off the cuff at last. She spoke in English in an accent that was heavily accented with Mexican-Spanish. Her voice was hoarse and James strained to hear her. He observed that despite her wounds and lack of an obvious weapon she was showing no fear and wondered if it was bravado or delirium? She was sweaty and bloodstained and he could only guess how long she had gone without basic necessities.

"James!" Felix let his irritation seep into his voice.

"There isn't much time," James said hastily as he glanced over his shoulder, his dark blue gaze skimming over items of torture sitting on a wooden table in the shadows. "I'm with the British Secret Service, trust that I'm here to help and follow me." He looked to the main door Felix's form was blocking, there was too much gunfire coming from outside.

The woman, Kendall McKenna, frowned at James and limped forward. "Help me," she grumbled sardonically with a shake of her head, "to go out to the gunfire?" She stopped in the middle of the barn, collapsing to her knees.

James moved forward fearing a faint but when he saw that she was upright and focused on something he realised she had kneeled down deliberately. He frowned when he saw what she was at, fiddling with a rusted padlock on what appeared to be a large, square drain cover.

"What are you doing?" James demanded.

"We're not going back the way you came," she answered firmly, "that's too obvious."

James watched briefly as the woman fiddled with a makeshift lockpick. "Are you mad?" he demanded.

"It leads to the sewers," she answered calmly like it was a positive thing, "they will only follow for so far before they get lost. Go get your friend, if you can see that the barn door is blocked in some way to delay their following then you might be helping me."

James frowned before turning his attention to the barn, the torture instruments wouldn't offer much aid, no more than the pitchfork in the corner. There was a sufficient amount of hay and the building was made of wood so he supposed a fire wasn't entirely out of the question. Better still, there was a container of oil, presumably for machinery, just beside the pitchfork. He moved to Felix, pulled him into the barn and shut the door behind him.

The Texan looked at the English agent quizzically. "James what's going on?" he demanded. "We're trapped in here!"

"She's got a way out," James retorted with a nod in the woman's direction. "Help me burn this place down."

"Are you insane?" Felix snapped as he looked at James with wide eyes.

"Come out with your hands up!" a male's voice called from outside. "We've got you surrounded!"

James hastened to the pitchfork and oil. He sized up the pitchfork and immediately began pushing straw and hay into a pile at the door.

Felix watched him with an incredulous expression before turning to the woman as he heard a loud click.

The woman tugged the padlock off the drain cover and then cursed as she strained to lift it.

Felix sighed and hurried over to help. "Are we really going down there?" he demanded with an exasperated look.

Kendall glanced to him with hostility before her gaze flickered over to James. "Well your friend's just set the door on fire so yes," she answered calmly.

Felix followed her stare to the red and amber flames that were beginning to multiply at an alarming rate. A curse exhaled from him before he hurried to raise the stiff drain cover. With a loud groan and much grunting on Felix's part it finally came free and rose up to reveal a dark, square hole that led down to the unknown, depth unclear.

"Ladies first surely," Felix murmured dryly.

Kendall did not retort. She moved to the edge in a seated position and slipped down feet first. Felix went next, hoping that he had given her time to move lest she break his fall and he her spine. James was last, slipping in whilst holding onto the drain cover so that he pulled it down with him.

James found it difficult to hide his unease as darkness, dampness and the overwhelming odour of faeces greeted him. "What the hell was this used for?" he snapped as he stood upright and brushed down his light linen jacket futilely.

"A means of drainage for the barn, they would hose the animal waste down it," the woman answered coolly, "and the blood of their victims." Her voice was disembodied in the darkness and the hoarseness of it didn't help ease the atmosphere.

James heard her take a few soft cautious steps back. He tugged out his phone hastily and triggered the light on it. The beam was narrow but bright, enough to illuminate Kendall's bruised and bloody face and have shrinking back in annoyance. "We really need to get moving," he grumbled.

Kendall held out her right hand for his phone. "I need a light," she said in a voice still hot with hostility.

"So you can run off and leave us in darkness?" James quipped sardonically.

"Tempting but no, so I can figure a route away from danger," she retorted calmly.

"I don't think so," James retorted with a shake of his head. "I'll point, you lead."

Kendall sighed crossly before turning away from him. "Fine," she grumbled. She started charging on. Her pace was agonisingly slow and she favoured her left foot suggesting an injury in the right. As she walked James illuminated her silhouette from behind and he and Felix both tried to take her in. She was five six, slender but mercifully not starved looking, evidently in the two years she had at least been fed. Her clothes were dirty and stained, a grey tank top and tattered jeans with scuffed black boots. Darker stains on the top suggested blood was still seeping from unseen wounds. Her hair shimmered a dark bronze at the ends whilst the roots were black with deep coffee brown streaks. James recalled the red hair in the picture and supposed this was two years of growing it out. It was unkempt, uneven ends with tattered clumps throughout it.

She led them down one tunnel after another. Minutes turned into an hour and the water level began to vary. At times they seemed to slope down further into the bowels of the earth whilst in other passageways they moved up steep inclines. Every now and then she paused to glance at worn, yellowing metal signs on the walls that indicated letters and numbers. Some parts had pipes with mini waterfalls of sewage, others had narrow cement walkways and more than a few had rats.

James didn't think he had ever been so uncomfortable. For the suave agent trekking in sewage was far from an easy task. He could feel every single drop of water that came from above, imaging the tiny splodge of questionable brown imprinted on his jacket by it. His nostrils began to burn with the smell and he considered that risking the gunfire might have been preferable. He began to wonder bitterly how in the hell he had been talked into this so easily. He did not know the woman, hell there was a suspicion that she was perhaps aiding the criminal but she had been so damn confident that this was the way to salvation and it had seemed to make sense.

Kendall paused when they finally came across a hint of guidance in a wide, high tunnel. There was an old map on a wall behind glass. James obligingly shone his light on it but could make little sense of it. There were codes and numbers, it was like a grid with sewage points marked out. Kendall perused over it briefly before turning and guiding them to the left.

James exchanged a wary look with Felix. The blonde looked frazzled, his shirt was stained brown with sewage, his hair was frizzy and damp and he seemed just as pleased at the smell of decay and waste as James. "We haven't even confirmed her identity," James murmured in a low voice. "I mean I'm almost certain it's her but when I mentioned her name she didn't validate it."

"James right now she could be a communist spy for all I care," Felix grumbled back, "as long as she gets us outta this shit hole I'm happy."

"Not a communist," the woman called back with a hint of tired cheer in her voice, "but what about you two? An Englishman and an American and secret service, all the way out in the middle of nowhere, Mexico, why?"

"Why don't you get us out of here first?" James suggested as he gave her a tight smile in answer.

She shrugged. "Because I don't know that you won't lock me up if I do, maybe put me in the CIA's idea of a prison?"

"We helped you, you know," Felix retorted defensively.

"No, you came a little late for that," she countered. "You got yourselves stuck in a barn with no exit, outnumbered and outgunned," she reminded them. "I freed myself and I got the drain unlocked. If you hadn't showed up I'd still be trekking shit and on my way too freedom."

"She's got a point," James murmured.

Felix folded his arms and frowned back at her. "No, she doesn't, if we hadn't showed up missy here would still be in the barn because she couldn't get the damn drain cover open, remember?"

The woman's eyes flashed with annoyance but she swallowed down whatever retort she was thinking and turned away from them. "I think I prefer communist to missy," she grumbled heatedly. She continued to lead them down tunnels of varying size and length, her pace noticeably slowing as time trickled by them. Her footsteps became louder too as she splashed unintentionally in the rising water that flowed about them as she started to stumble.

James was beginning to fear the woman's body giving out on her just as daylight finally greeted them.

James didn't think he could ever feel so relieved to see light. It didn't matter that there wasn't much of it, light was light. He moved to the end of the tunnel eagerly, desperate for the fresh air that would come with the deep golden burn of a sinking sun that greeted them. Despite his urge to get the hell out he was cautious, gun ready, ears perked and eyes ever watchful. Sensing only the roar of the ocean he stepped out.

James exited the ceramic and metal of the old sewage tunnel they had been wandering through for what had seemed like an eternity, walking out and down to the off spill of a sewage stream. The odour of the salty sea that welcomed them sadly wasn't near enough to overcome the odour of sewage. The beach they had arrived on was a thin strip of sand, dark gold beneath the fading sunlight with only a few people on it, none of them near enough to notice the sorry trio emerging from the sewer tunnel.

James sucked in a deep breath of the fresh air before turning back to the woman. "Are you Kendall McKenna?" he queried bluntly.

She blinked back at him calmly and shrugged. "If I say no?"

"I'd suspect you were lying and advise we have ways to confirm otherwise," James retorted icily. He knew it was her, the resemblance to Paris was scant but it was there, though he still, frustratingly, couldn't quite figure out what 'it' was. Paris had been fair, elegant and beautiful, an Old Hollywood style of beauty, designer from head to toe in terms of hair, make-up and clothes. This woman looked half-mad and homeless. James supposed dryly that it was hardly her fault and he was being superficial and unfair comparing her in her current state to her ex-model sister given he was probably seeing her at her worst but he couldn't help it.

"I'm outgunned and injured," she pointed out. "It can't be very sporting when I'm at so many disadvantages."

James raised his phone and took a quick, discreet photograph of the woman and sent it back to base for a swift identification. He then brought up the GPS to confirm their location. They were in the city of Veracruz, which shared its name with its coastal state, Veracruz. To the east sat the Gulf of Mexico, approximately six hours of driving to the west led back to Mexico City.

Felix tugged out his phone and made a hasty phone call. "This is Leiter, yeah we need some transport. Quick as you can please, I'll turn on the locator." He paced off along the sand heading up to the main road to check the signposts.

James gestured to Kendall to follow after the blonde.

Kendall scowled back at the dark haired male before turning and trudging after Felix. She muttered several curses as she stumbled twice in the sand before making it up to the concrete footpath Felix had mounted onto. The American agent was now sitting on a wooden bench, spoiling it with dribbles of sewage as the shade of two palm trees offered some sympathetic cover to his damp, bedraggled state.

Kendall glanced to James who gestured to the bench. She shook her head. "He's your friend, you sit with him," she remarked brightly before flicking a glob of sewage in James' direction.

James resisted the urge to snap at the woman and remained where he was, keeping a serious blue stare on the woman in case she tried to run. He doubted she would get far, she was tired from her trek and burdened with her injuries but he would prefer she didn't try, he was tired too and in no mood to attempt chasing her. She might not get far but if the wrong person saw it would be trouble for him anyway.

"You know I am drenched in cold sewage on top of suffering from some rather unpleasant injuries," she addressed James and Felix in a sardonic voice edged with impatience, "is there any chance you boys could get to the bloody point and tell me what you want? And maybe be kind enough to give me a heads up as to whether I'm about to go back to torture and dark cells again?"

Felix and James exchanged another look, the blonde offered a half-shrug along with a small smile and a shake of his head.

"Felix this is your game," James reminded him in a low voice with a raised eyebrow. "I'm just along for the ride."

Felix sighed. "Can you confirm that you're Kendall McKenna?" he quipped lightly as he gave her a hopeful look.

"Does it look I have ID on me to prove whatever answer I give?" she retorted crossly.

James' phone beeped and he flipped it open. "It's alright," he said smoothly, "intelligence has confirmed it. Now you're not going to be this difficult with every question are you Miss McKenna?" He gave her a taunting grin at this.

"No fun in making it easy," she retorted calmly. Her gaze suggested she was irked. "So what am I to call you pair?"

"Bond. James Bond," James introduced, his small grin still present.

"Felix Leiter, CIA," the blonde retorted.

Kendall glanced behind her and seated herself on the edge of the low wall that separated the path from the beach front. The adrenaline rush of escape was beginning to wear off and her right leg's numbness was starting to turn into a burning ache.

James remained standing though he gave the space beside the bench a pointed look.

"Now that the pleasantries are out of the way," she addressed them brightly, "are you going to tell me why the CIA and the British Secret Service have come all the way to Mexico for little old me?"

"When we're in a more secure location," Felix answered.

"And cleaner," James added.

"Secure location?" Kendall repeated warily.

"I mean a hotel," Felix explained.

James tensed as a trio of tall, long legged native beauties came strolling past them giggling as they glanced from their phones to one another. One wrinkled her nose suddenly and her chocolate brown eyes looked to James standing beside the bench. Her eyes widened as she glanced from him to Felix and her friends followed suit, their gazes filling with horror as they took in the agents' filthy state.

James felt disarmed by their looks of disgust, it was rare that any woman looked to him with revulsion and it certainly didn't happen before he had even spoken to them. He flashed a teasing smile at them choosing to embrace them ridicule knowing that if he acted embarrassed they would probably laugh and tease.

When the women passed Kendall she met their gazes unflinchingly and said merrily, "hemos tenido un día de mierda."

Felix let out a low snicker at this before he could help himself.

James, whose Spanish was passable but a little rusty, glanced at the young woman quizzically. "What did you say?" he queried.

"I just told them we were having a shitty day," Kendall explained happily.

James fought the twitch at the corner of his mouth that hinted at a smile. "Well you're not wrong," he admitted.

They shared another half hour of awkward silence broken up by the dripping of brown water falling from their persons and the disapproving murmurs, gasps and snickers from other passersby. James kept a careful gaze on Kendall throughout it, she was deteriorating though she was trying hard not to show it. He imagined it was a multitude of things- injury, a long journey through the sewers and exposure to fresh air after suffering the stale, musty air of the barn for who knew how long. He did admire her willpower to at least appear alert, keeping her head upright and focused on the streets though she couldn't quite banish the redness at the edge of her eyes or the hunch in her back.

The low welcome hum of a fast car created an excited thrill in James shaking off the stupor he had settled into for the past thirty minutes. It was a sleek, silver BMW with the roof down showing off its cream ,leather seats and a familiar face in the driver's seat. Behind it a black Ford Mustang followed closely. The two came to a screeching halt at the edge of the kerb.

"Jimbo!" a brash American voice greeted cheerfully as the driver of the BMW stepped out of the car. He crossed round the front of the bonnet and gave the trio a wide smile. He was six feet two and dressed like a tourist with a loose fitting, short sleeved, cotton shirt that was mainly jade in colour with a vague yellow and red print aztec pattern on it, beige shorts to his knees, brown loafers, and a straw hat.

James suppressed a grimace as he greeted the man politely, "Wade."

Felix stood up from the bench and stepped up to the older man. "Agent Wade," he addressed him happily with a look of relief.

"Phew!" the man exclaimed as he waved his right hand at his nose directly. "You boys stink! What the hell have you been doing, swimming through shit?" he barked at them humorously.

Felix and James exchanged a look.

The man's narrow blue eyes flickered from one to the other. "Jesus boys, really?" He looked past James to the woman still sitting on the wall. "You didn't drag this poor woman with you, did you?" he queried dubiously.

"It was her idea," Felix snapped as he glanced over his shoulder at Kendall.

"It got us out," Kendall answered as she stood up, "and my name is Kendall McKenna as intelligence has confirmed." She gave the tourist dressed agent a bright, sardonic smile.

The agent smiled back before turning to Felix once more. "Has she been checked out?" he queried cryptically.

"She knows we're agents," Felix answered, purposely evading the question.

"Right." The man turned back to face Kendall. "Well I'm Jack Wade, CIA."

"Oh." Kendall turned a curious stare on Felix. "Three agents in one day, you spoil me."

"Do you want to walk?" Felix queried bitingly.

James chortled. "Now that you mention it can we get a move on?" he quipped.

Jack held up the keys to the BMW. "Seems a damn shame seeing a good car like that get ruined with whatever shit you three are caked in."

"I guess Felix should have given you a heads up to bring something with darker seats," James retorted sarcastically as held out a hand for the keys.

Felix snatched them off Jack nimbly before James could receive them. "I'm driving," he insisted, "CIA car, CIA driver."

Jack chuckled at that. "I'll be in the Mustang, not missing the smell," he said as he jerked a thumb back at the black car. The driver had yet to emerge. From what they could see he was completely unremarkable in appearance, plainly dressed with a serious expression, short cut dark hair and a swarthy complexion. "Good luck with finding a hotel to take you, might want to be generous with the tipping." He let out another chuckle before heading over to the passenger side of the Mustang.

"Shotgun," Kendall called out before rushing over to the front passenger door of the BMW.

"Now wait a minute," James protested with a scowl.

Kendall ignored him, tugging open the door and clambering in with a wince of pain as her leg hindered her again.

Felix shook his head before moving round to the driver's side and getting in. James suppressed a sigh before heading into the back of the car. His scowl deepened as he found the foot room a tad lacking and was ill-pleased by the squelching sound his clothes made on the cream leather.

Felix started up the engine, put up the roof, ignoring Kendall's cry of dismay as he did, and hit on the air con.

Kendall extended a finger out towards the sound system as Felix pulled out onto the main road. "Let's liven things up," she murmured as hit the radio on. She flicked through the stations until a lively Latino dance tune came on. "Perfect!" she cried out happily before she twisted the sound dial sharply to the right.

"Christ," Felix grumbled as they were nearly deafened.

"Woo!" Kendall cheered as she started dancing in her seat. "Been a long time since I've heard something other than threats and noises of pain, makes a nice change," she commented chirpily.

James watched her from behind equal parts amused and irritated by her antics. He was curious as to where she found the sudden burst of energy from and considered that maybe this was a mad embrace of freedom after being in captivity for so long in which case he supposed reluctantly that it was understandable. He was mildly concerned by how glibly she referred to torture and imprisonment and suspected she was just trying to distance herself from the whole affair, it made him wonder what exactly she had been through.

Felix winced as droplets of sewage sprayed across the car interior with her movements. He too wondered how the hell she even had the energy for it.

"So where's the nearest McDonalds?"

Felix glanced over at Kendall dumbfounded, unsure if he had heard right over the music. "What?" he yelled back.

"McDonalds? You know, golden arches?" Kendall shouted back as she mimed out a M shape with her hands and arms.

Felix reached for the volume and turned it down. He was tempted to mute the sound but Kendall's sudden fierce look made him rethink the decision. "You're kidding right?" he quipped in a deadpan voice. "It'd be a little unhygienic for them to let someone covered in shit into the place."

"Pretty sure they have drive thrus," she retorted sarcastically.

"Surely you can wait until we reach the hotel," James interrupted from the back seat, "and then we can get room service." The mere mention of fast food made him slightly sick inside, it was just so classless and tasteless, if one had to eat, one should damn well enjoy what they were eating.

"Listen spooks," Kendall addressed them fiercely, "I was locked in a barn with no food for quite a long time and I'm cranky when I don't have food. Add some torture to the mix and honestly, I think I've more than earned my McDonalds. If it helps I'm more co-operative when I've food, the boys in the barn might have had an easier time getting information if they'd considered getting me a burger."

"What kind of information?" James pried.

Kendall turned round in her seat to face him down the aisle of the car. "You get me a burger and tell me a bit more about who you are and what you want and I'll answer that."

Felix met James' cool stare in the mirror. "It sounds like a fair deal."

"Only if it's en route to the hotel," James gave in reluctantly.

It took half an hour before a Burger King loomed into sight. James considered it a slight victory that it wasn't a McDonald's though he couldn't suppress his revulsion for fast food joints in general.

Felix indicated into the place and found the drive thru lane empty. "What do you want?" he queried moodily.

"Big King meal with a Pepsi," Kendall. ordered happily. "Oh and ice cream."

"No," Felix answered bluntly. He cursed when he was answered with a cold splatter of something on his left cheek.

"It's been a long, hot day, I've been chained up, beaten up, tortured, and I've had to spend two hours limping through sewage," Kendall retorted frostily, "that earns me ice cream."

"That earns you a small cone," Felix gave in grudgingly, "but try not-" He paused and shook his head.

"Not to get it on the seats?" Kendall quipped innocently.

"Right." Felix looked in the mirror again. "James?"

"I'll wait," the British agent answered firmly.

* * *

 _Thanks very much for the reviews and alerts so far! I hope I continue to do James Bond justice! Although I am trying to do something a little different. I liked the idea of taking the agents out of their comfort zone with sewage and fast food. It's still an exotic location though, they're just not seeing it yet. Remember when Felix went to KFC in Goldfinger? Yep that happened, even the CIA likes it fast food. People deduct points for Cec Linder's Felix Leiter for being too old and more of an 'Uncle Felix' but I think he deserves points for keeping it real by being in the CIA but still having time for KFC (joke)._

 _I know a lot of people don't like Jack Wade, I'm not one of them. I liked that he didn't take himself too seriously and sneered at the idea of codewords. I get that it doesn't come across as spy behaviour but James Bond isn't exactly known for its realism and maybe Jack's a maverick or a more modern day CIA agent or he just doesn't care. Anyway, I needed someone to provide the transport and figured he was as good as anyone else._


	3. Chapter 3- A Night in the City

James knew he had been optimistic to hope for an evening of peace after the effort it had taken to get the girl. Corrupt police had found him and Felix in Mexico City after all which meant Trevino had known they were in the country before they had even located Kendall. Was it really too much to hope for the chance to get a hot shower and some proper cuisine from a high class hotel without any further interruptions? The repetitive quick fire of machine pistols was his answer.

"Steady Felix," he cautioned calmly as the BMW skidded as it was turned sharply to the right.

"No one likes a back seat driver James," Felix retorted heatedly as he hit the accelerator hard.

Gunfire let them all know that their pursuers were close behind.

Kendall tensed as the wing mirror beside her was shot into shards.

Felix glanced at the main view mirror. There was one car coming, black with one man hanging out the front passenger side firing a MAC-11. He seemed to have no concerns for any innocent passersby or for any attention he might be gathering.

Gunfire came from the front and Kendall let out a yelp and ducked as the windshield cracked. There was another car coming hard at them with no concern for being on the wrong side of the road. It had a female driver and another male shooter.

"Left Felix!" James snapped. He mentally cursed the fact that he wasn't the driver and for a rare moment he felt a horrible lack of control. His Walther PPK was out but he didn't fancy his chances hanging out the window and trying to get a shot.

Felix turned hard and the wheels squealed again. He almost missed the narrow passageway to the left that James had observed. Kendall's head bobbed up as they hastened up the street, her turquoise eyes going wide at the tourists and natives scattering before them. She sank her nails tight into the edge of the leather seat and swallowed hard.

They exited the tunnel and before Felix could turn the car another vehicle struck them hard. The BMW spun hard and for a moment the world blurred. James made out the dark blue shine of their opponent's car and the gleam of a Glock.

BANG! BANG!

The BMW stopped spinning in time for their new opponent to take aim.

There was the loud roar of fast car engines and James knew others were coming. He hit the button for his window and got it down fast. The Walther PPK was out, steady aim, quick and fast, no point wasting time on trying to shoot through a window that might be bulletproof. He aimed for the hand holding the Glock instead.

BANG! There was a scream of pain followed by a loud, metallic clatter as the Glock hit the ground as a bullet whizzed through its owner's hand.

The BMW started moving again. They were on a main coastal road passing docked boats and palm trees and the glittering lights of bars and clubs on the other side. It might have been pretty to observe if not for the large distraction of enemy gunfire.

There were two motorbikes coming at them, two passengers a piece but none of them had guns. Felix noticed what they were doing too late. There were two loud bangs and another wild screech from the BMW as the spikes the back seat motorcycle passengers had thrown in their path caught and blew out the front two tyres.

Felix let the car complete a 180 before hitting the car in reverse, there was just enough momentum to get James level with one of the motorcycles. The English agent didn't waste any time as Felix drew out his Browning and dealt with the other two. BANG! BANG! One rider dropped dead to the ground. Another fell wounded whilst the other two took off on their bikes.

"Time to go," James commented sharply. He was out and on his feet as he heard the dark blue car that had rammed them approaching. It was a Dodge Challenger and its male passenger whose hand James had shot looked pissed. Seeing two figures hanging out from the back let James know quickly that the car had other shooters to make up for the loss.

"Off the road now!" James snapped as he started to run across the main road and away from the coast.

Felix and Kendall followed. Kendall moved the slowest, grunting in pain as she struggled to run with her wounded leg. BANG! She swallowed down a yelp as she heard the bullet shoot past.

BANG! Felix returned gunfire with his Browning just as they reached the pavement.  
The three hurried down an alleyway too narrow for a car to follow and found themselves emerging onto a crowded street. Here the ground was paved with grey and white tiles. Stalls and street vendors filled the centre amongst fenced trees whilst the white tables and chairs of cafes and bars crowded the other side. Lights glimmered from both sides and the air was full of music and chatter as tourists and natives alike mingled to enjoy drink, food and a warm evening.

"Where are we going to go?" Kendall asked in a quiet voice. She looked around the crowds, the whites of her eyes showing as she tried to scan the unfamiliar faces for potential foes.

"They've come for you, haven't they?" James retorted calmly. They must have, what the hell else could they want? It was difficult to know when he couldn't be certain who 'they' were but he had no other business down in Mexico to draw anyone else's attention too and he didn't think Felix did either.

Kendall looked frightened, the bravado of earlier gone as she swallowed hard and gave an uneasy shrug. "How can I know?" she retorted softly, voice still hoarse and now full of nerves. "I haven't seen their faces yet."

James frowned at her coldly, he understood her secrecy and her unwillingness to trust him but he was thoroughly fed up with it too, if she didn't give him something then how could he know what to expect of their opponents?

The screams and gunfire came at once. James couldn't be certain which came first. It wasn't the first time he had wondered. Was it a scream of futility at the sight of a gun from some unfortunate observer knowing their fate seconds before it was sealed or it was the scream of obliviousness from someone reacting to the pain of a bullet without ever really registering the cause of that pain before the darkness took them? He always imagined it was better not seeing the gun if one wasn't going to have time to do something about it.

"Three to the front and two behind," Felix murmured to James. His voice was stoic, void of emotion even as people were caught in the crossfire and murdered before him. He dropped to a crouch and pulled Kendall down with him before his Browning was up and shooting again.

James hurried to one of the cafe tables and kicked it over onto to its side to use a shield. He crouched behind it and successfully returned gunfire to two of the shooters. One doubled over with a cry of pain as he sent a bullet into their knee.

There was the roar of an engine as the black car that had been following them earlier came charging up the road. It came fearlessly up a street wide enough for vehicles but designed for pedestrians only. The driver had no concern for the panicked pedestrians as the car mowed them down carelessly.

Kendall dove to the left to avoid the vehicle and rolled ungracefully into a stall. She hit it with a soft thump before righting herself and crawling behind it. It offered barbecued meats and behind it she found a small propane cylinder for the barbecue. In a reckless and desperate move she tugged out the hose and dragged the cylinder out to sit beside the stall before turned the nozzle on.

The car was coming and the air was polluted with the roar of its engine mingled with gunfire, screams and the now horribly ill-suited cheery music coming from the bars.

Kendall looked to the car in a moment of horror, the driver was looking at her. She tensed, fighting the urge to run, this had to work. The driver was coming at her and she found herself making an odd prayer, that they would choose to smash into her rather than waste bullets. The wheels turned, crunching over broken glass and a chair's plastic legs. It was close enough now.

Kendall hastened to James and Felix. "Shoot the stall!" she shrieked at them. "Shoot it!"

James looked at her like she was mad and immediately dismissed her to fire at the car's occupants instead. Felix looked at her curiously before he finished off the last of their on foot opponents with a quick bullet to the gut. She was waving madly behind her to the stall that the car was careening towards whilst trying frantically to run despite her limp. She seemed to be pointing down and to the right. Felix followed her gesture ad spotted the cylinder.

BANG!

Kendall's run turned into a jump that ended in a painful fall as a fireball birthed behind her just before the car made impact with the stall. The car braked too late to prevent its driver becoming submerged in amber flames.

Felix and James watched in a morbid fascination as the impact of the explosion took out the front half of the car devouring it in smoke and fire. Knowing the car would soon follow in another explosion the spies hurried to take advantage of the sudden distraction.

James was already on his feet, fixing a table upright and pushing it against a wall that led up to a low balcony beside a canopy. "Come on, up on the roof!" he snapped as he looked back to Felix and Kendall.

Kendall pushed herself to her feet with another grunt of pain. Her ears were ringing and her vision was tinged with an edge of red. She felt dizzy and she couldn't hear a word James was shouting but she got the just of his hand gestures and limped over to the table wearily. She made it onto it but needed the reluctant boost from the Englishman to get her up to the balcony. She gripped its small stone posts with another grunt of pain before scrambling upwards and over onto the balcony awkwardly.

James and Felix followed quickly. They continued upwards, James boosting Kendall up again until they made it to the flat rooftop.

BOOM! The car exploded. Felix pushed Kendall down hard to lie on the rooftop as bits of metal and glass scattered into the air.

The woman waited, face down, mouth full of blood as she became aware of biting her tongue when diving away from the first explosion. Her back felt damp too and she realised the heat of the explosion had torn away part of her vest top. She knew the flesh there had been damaged too but it was minute, pinkened rather than burned.

They were up again. James reminded himself that he was supposed to be 'charming' Kendall and earning her trust but it was a little difficult to think of any of that with the chaos going on around them. He could hear police sirens and yet more engines that implied fast cars and, he suspected, hostile occupants. He looked to Kendall, ready to drag her up and snap at her for answers, to demand to know what the hell she knew to have such a hot tail on her but the sight of her gave him pause. Part of her lower back was exposed through her shredded top revealing long, horizontal scarring. It looked like the mark of a lash or a whip. James stiffened at the sight, he couldn't believe she had been a willing accomplice to Trevino now which meant only one thing.

'Two years is a long time,' James thought dully.

Unsure at James' hesitation, Felix made the decision to move. The blonde helped the woman to her feet and they started running again.

They were heading back to the main road again. They jumped from rooftop to rooftop when the gap was narrow and when it was wider they slid down to the lower balconies and crossed with a bit more effort. All the while they were conscious of being pursued and unsure where to go. James was ever wary of the hum of cars growing louder and nearer. He had reloaded his gun but he didn't think it would be enough, their pursuers seemed endless and this was foreign territory for him, he didn't know where the hell to go. Kendall was slowing, she was going to hinder them soon and then what?

They skidded to a halt, they were out of rooftops, the next one was too far. They were going to have to go back to the ground.

James glanced back at the roar of a Dodge Challenger. He could see it, this time green, speeding up the strip towards them. He squinted and caught the sparkle of gun nozzles under the street lights.

There was more gunfire. It seemed a little premature, there was no way they could aim from that distance. James arched a dark eyebrow as he realised that they weren't shooting at them. They were firing towards the water. His eyes went wide in fascination as someone answered them. A thick cloud of grey smoke plumed from within the car and it started to swerve. Whoever it was had chucked a smoke bomb through the car's window.

James shook his head as he suppressed a smile before he began the climb down, there was nothing for it but to keep going. He had no time to ponder who might be there in the dark waters, he'd thank them later if he could.

The three were on the ground again, Felix was contemplating calling for Jack Wade and the others but he didn't know how long they would take to get here. He cursed to himself internally several times, this was meant to be his mission and it was already fucked six ways to Sunday. He didn't know where to go, he didn't know who exactly was chasing them, he didn't know how many hostiles were out there, shit there was a lot he didn't know. He looked to James with cool grey eyes, keeping his expression a frosty calm as he refused to betray his unease. If James had been leading the mission he would have planned it better, he would have learned of the safe houses and the potential allies in the city. 'No,' Felix chided himself, 'James wouldn't have known we'd end up in Veracruz anymore than I did.'

The sound a horn drew their attention to the rippling blackness below the edge of the road. James looked to it curiously and became aware of the hum of a speedboat's motor. Their mysterious benefactor had come to them then. He moved forward slowly, gun out and ready just in case. Was he going to meet with a bullet or smoke bomb? He peered over the steep edge cautiously and smiled down at the new arrival.

A woman stood at the helm of the speedboat looking up at him with scorn. It was an expression James was used to but he couldn't imagine what he had done to deserve it from this newcomer. Even though she was mostly in shadow he knew he didn't know her, she had defined cheekbones, petite lips and large, bright eyes, he knew he wouldn't have forgotten a face like hers so easily.

"Get in!" she snapped at him in a voice thick with a Parisian accent.

"Much as I like an assertive woman shouldn't we exchange names first?" he quipped glibly.

His all too brief moment of charm and relief at finding aid and not harm was ruined by the fresh sound of gunfire.

More motorcycles, this time with the back seat riders armed with pistols. James saw Felix seize Kendall by one hand before dragging her across the road. Kendall winced and raised her free arm in a futile gesture to shield herself from bullets.

"French intelligence Mister Bond," the woman from the boat barked up at him. "We can do the introductions at a better time!"

James found himself agreeing before he turned back to Felix once more. "In the boat, come on!" he shouted. He turned and looked back to the inky waters. The boat was close but not close enough and it was a steep drop, he'd probably break an ankle trying to make into the boat. He sighed, the smell of sea water would make a pleasant change from sewage at least.

Gunfire followed Kendall and Felix as they followed after James, leaping into a cold, wet oblivion without hesitation. The water came at them in a rush and they released hands with the impact. The cold was a shock to Kendall's system and the salt was quick to sting her wounds and eyes. She couldn't breathe, her muscles felt heavy and she was so tired. Her head bobbed up to the surface and then down again as she gave a spluttering gasp. Darkness.

Left, right, up, down, darkness everywhere she looked. She bobbed up to the surface again. Another gulp of air. Her heart was pounding so loud it was thunder in ears and she couldn't hear James shouting at her from the boat. She opened her eyes at last and spied James, a damp blur waving at her from another white blur.

Felix reached the edge of the speedboat and was grasping at the small, steel ladder. Kendall was a precious thirty seconds behind him. He waited for her, reaching out to her as she neared and pushing her up to the ladder. She struggled but she made it, collapsing in a damp, bedraggled ball whilst Felix staggered up behind her and immediately joined James in returning gunfire to the men above.

Their French companion got the boat into action and bid the main road and its shooters farewell before speeding out into the night.

"Alright who are you?" James snapped when he felt they were an appropriately safe distance from the gunfire. He had considered charm but he was used up for the day and in no more mood for secrecy and mysteries.

"Celestine Guyot," she retorted curtly, "and you might want to work on your tone Mister Bond, I did just save your ass."

"And why was that?" he queried bluntly.

"Maybe I felt like being charitable," she retorted with a faint smile. She glanced at him with a coy baby blue gaze. "We're on the same side," she assured, "you're after Emmanuel Trevinto and so am I. Look, we will be at our safe house soon, we can talk more there."

"How did you know where we were?" James demanded.

"I was following one of Trevino's minions, he led me to you," she retorted.

James was unconvinced but he did not argue, he knew he had to go along with the woman for now but he didn't have to be happy about it. He moved to stand with Felix, the American was sitting on the edge of the boat with a tired expression. The blonde had his phone out and was thumbing through a message, swiping at water droplets in frustration as he did.

"Wade's confirmed it," Felix murmured to James quietly, "Guyot's French intelligence. He says they got in touch with our superiors just under an hour ago. You'll get news soon from MI6, they want us to work this one together. Trevino shipped drugs and sex slaves from South America to France, promises of a better life and all that. French authorities got wise to one brothel, thought to free the residents and offer them citizenship for information but he blew the building up before they could." He continued thumbing through the message. "Four cops dead plus eight civilians as well as the twenty residents."

"This man seems to have caused problems the world over," James murmured.

Felix nodded as he locked his phone and pocketed it. He turned his attention to Kendall, she was barely upright, sitting but slouched against the boat's side, tired, shaking with the cold, and glassy eyed. It was odd but her lost, vacant expression had Felix wishing for the woman who just moments earlier had been scoffing down a cheeseburger and blasting Latin music. He had seen the same marks on her back that James had and he wondered if this was the shock settling in, if the fast food, music loving woman had been a front to hide the horror and the haunted looking woman with the slight tremble was the reality of two years of torture.

It was another hour before they returned to the coast, docking at a quiet pier before being led up to an equally quiet street and into a tall town house with CCTV and an electronic keypad on the door to guard it. Celestine entered the code and waved to the guard on duty within before leading them up to the third floor.

Kendall limped behind Celestine and James and in front of Felix, who graciously brought up the rear for fear of Kendall falling down the stairs.

On the outside the house hadn't looked like much, whitewashed like the other buildings and sitting unobtrusively in a row of town houses with a small porch and a narrow strip of road with only a few cars parked along it. It appeared mediocre, not quite upper class but far from poverty. Inside was entirely different. The walls were a deep purple with a gilded strip of flowers on the bottom, the bannister was an old, dark wood and the stairs were carpeted in a dark emerald green velvet. Its style suggested money though it was dated and the wooden panelling on the walls of the corridors whilst an attractive feature only added to the age. The paintings on the walls were their first clue that the building belonged to the French, past leaders of France both political and royal stared down at them from small, oiled portraits with vacant eyes.

Celestine led them into a room that gave them their first show of the modern world in the building. Two computers sat on a desk against the back wall, beside one was a fax machine and beside the other a printer. There was a phone on the wall and a television on a wall to the left. There was a large globe in the centre that doubled as a light and emitted a soothing blue glow, on the left wall beside the square window was a map of the world with numerous pins and coloured string on it. Books lined a shelf on the opposing wall and a black coffee table with a smart glass top occupied the centre. Before the table was a couch.

Celestine looked to Kendall first. "Come with me," she said as she gestured to a door beside the bookshelf. "Our medic room is through here."

James started to follow, halting at Celestine's icy stare.

"She's in no danger," Celestine assured him calmly. "Why don't you and your friend Mister Leiter make use of the showers next door." She nodded to the door they had come through. "They're just on the right and if everyone plays nice I might even have new clothes procured for you all."

James gave her a tight, biting smile in answer. "Miss Guyot we went through a lot of trouble to get that girl, I'd be remiss if I was just going to hand her over to the French."

"I'm twenty-six," Kendall piped up with a tired, faint smile at the agent, "although girl is an improvement on missy I suppose."

"Mister Bond I'm not going to take her from you," Celestine retorted, her annoyance slipping into her voice, "I'm going to treat her injuries. I was a medic in Afghanistan for two years, I can help her. Stand by the door if you must." She looked to Kendall and urged her through the door.

Kendall went, closely followed by Celestine whilst James stubbornly took up a post by the door. Felix waited as well though he paced round the room and inspected it before giving Wade a phone call.

* * *

Sunrise came early. The sun rose pale and golden at first, kissing the sullied streets of Veracruz gently and offering a gentle heat to ease them into what promised to be a scorching summer's afternoon. James was already out on the balcony at the back of the town house staring down at a pretty and criminally neglected courtyard below. He was sipping at a cup of strong black coffee, regretful that there was nothing stronger. It had been a long night and was promising to be a longer day, he needed a drink.

He glanced at his watch, it was only just after five in the morning, he had had approximately three hours sleep yet he was wide awake. He had spent the night getting caught up to speed with both Moneypenny and Celestine. Kendall, thanks to whatever medication Celestine had given her, had been ruddy useless when it came to intelligence. She had managed a brief shower and change into borrowed nightclothes before passing out on the sofa before James could question her.

The French had known about Trevino's property between Mexico City and Veracruz though they admitted no knowledge of Kendall McKenna. They had been hoping to get to Trevino through one of his men and had been acting independently until realising the CIA and MI6 were in Mexico. James, Felix and Celestine had spent two heated hours discussing Kendall whilst the woman was unconscious on a couch and oblivious to it. Felix had confessed reluctantly to Celestine to the possibility of her being in Trevino's employ but Celestine had shot this down. She had found the lash marks of course but more on top of that, there were signs of previous breakages in some of her bones and healed scar tissue that suggested minor burn marks and cuts. The girl, damn James couldn't stop thinking of her that way, had definitely been the victim of violence. So that left one alternative, that she was a prisoner, for two years. Why had Trevino let her live? They had all contemplated a grim but obvious answer to that- because she had worked for him, just not willingly, cracked under torture most likely.

James grimaced beneath the sunlight as he imagined that. It was hard to brand her a traitor if that was what had happened. Had she thought about a rescue? Had she waited for it? Just like her sister, trapped and at the mercy of a sociopath with no way out. It made him angry, angry at himself for Paris all over again, angry at Felix and his whole CIA organisation for knowing about Kendall and waiting far too long to act, and angry at Trevino who he didn't even know for exploiting and abusing the girl.

He turned warily as the door slid open behind him. It was Celestine, fresh faced despite the early hour with a small plate in her left hand offering hot croissants and butter.

James smiled. "Croissants, really?" he queried smartly, unable to resist a light tease. It made him feel better to be light hearted and mocking.

Celestine offered him a smile in response, no wound at the jibe. She was a svelte woman, five feet seven at a push, willow framed and long limbed with a warm, creamy complexion. Her face was young, her cheeks lightly shaded in a faint rose and her defined cheekbones hidden beneath soft, silvery blonde waves that spilled down past her shoulders. She was already dressed for the day in a flattering silk, cream shirt and dark blue trousers with white high heeled court shoes.

James was dressed too, welcoming a crisp, clean white shirt and black trousers along with clean underwear and polished black shoes. It would do until he could get to a tailor or have a wardrobe sent via MI6, it was the least M could do after pulling him into this mess. He couldn't deny the relief he had felt sliding into fresh clothes that smelt only of a stoic cleanliness, untainted by fabric softeners or scented wash powders. It had been second only to the comfort of the shower last night.

"Croissants are a small luxury I try to afford myself," Celestine explained as she offered the plate out to James. "An indulgence if you will."

He gamely accepted one, hunger winning out at last. It wasn't freshly made, a terrible disappointment but it beat a manufactured burger, he was certain of that. James finished it off hastily before slipping back through the balcony door and into a small kitchenette. He exited the room to a corridor and headed up it and back to the room with the globe.

Kendall slept on the couch by the coffee table. She should have looked uncomfortable but she didn't, she looked peaceful despite being curled up at an awkward angle. Felix occupied the floor beside her with a single cushion beneath his head. He was awake, alert before James had opened the door, gun at the ready just in case until he had realised it was James.

"Sleep well Felix?" James queried teasingly before he could help it.

Felix frowned back at him. James had more or less ordered him to be the one to stay guarding Kendall for the night, snapping at him that it was the least he could do. The least he could do, that had stung. It wasn't like Felix had had the full details of the woman and what she had suffered before going to liberate her, hell he still didn't have all the information. He had refrained from an argument with James, too tired to be bothered, and remained dutifully near the woman lest she try to escape or another come to take her.

It hadn't been a good night sleep, the floor had been hard and the woman had dreamed. She hadn't yelled, hadn't screamed either but rather she had made an odd noise in her sleep, a sound Felix knew was despair though he didn't know what to call it- not a whimper or sob- just despair and then he had realised, it was acceptance too. She had made the woeful keening noise of a being abandoned, a creature that knew it was doomed to suffer without relief or freedom. Felix knew it with a certainty, he had heard that noise before though he wished to God he hadn't.

"What's the plan James?" Felix queried quietly as he pushed himself to his knees.

"Wake her up," James answered bluntly, "and find out what she knows and how we can use that information to stop Trevino."


	4. Chapter 4- The Devil's Labyrinth

James looked at Kendall coldly and realised he felt a resentment towards her. He blamed her for all the trouble he had suffered lately, for the chaos in Veracruz, the unpleasantness of wandering through a sewage system, and the chase with the police in Mexico City under an unforgiving scorching sun. He disliked her for not being Paris and for being so very unlike Paris that he was beginning to wonder if headquarters had got it wrong and she wasn't Paris' half-sister after all.

Paris had been cool and collected, always composed, never a curl out of place and she was stoic in the face of danger. Even when she had come to him knowing and fearing what Elliot would do to her there had been a certain icy facade about it. Kendall on the other hand was still somewhat a mess despite a shower and a change of clothes. She was bruised and bloodied, unmade up with her wild, uneven hair in an untidy bun. Her nerves showed in the whites of her bloodshot eyes and the way she puffed unfashionably at a cigarette procured from Felix.

Kendall met James' icy blue stare unflinchingly. She was standing, leaning back slightly against the wall clad in a loose fitting white shirt with light denim jeans and soft black boots, all courtesy of French intel. "Why did you come to the barn?" Kendall pried.

"To rescue you," James answered calmly.

Kendall sneered at this and shook her head. "Two years and nothing, I get sent to the body barn and then the help comes and even then you were cutting it fine."

"The body barn?" Felix echoed curiously. He was seated on the couch, palms resting on his thighs as he regarded the young woman tranquilly.

Kendall gave the blonde an ugly stare. "You don't know?" she queried moodily before she took another puff from the cigarette.

"It's where Emmanuel Trevino disposes of people no longer of use to him," Celestine answered delicately. She stood near James, a quiet observer to the exchange.

James glanced her way and frowned. He wondered how the French had that information but MI6 and the CIA didn't.

"If he was going to dispose of you why hadn't he done it already?" James demanded.

Kendall glanced back at him calmly and answered softly, "when you go to the barn you know you're going to die. In the barn it's all about the how and when. It's his last ditch effort to get some information out of you." She paused with an uncomfortable stare about the room before stepping up to the coffee table and Felix's still warm cup of coffee. She stubbed her cigarette out in the cup.

"I was just thinking I'd prefer my coffee with a smokey flavour," he remarked brightly.

"You're welcome," she retorted with a biting smile before she stood upright.

Kendall returned her attention to James. "He had me for two years," she said icily, "and no one came, no one even tried. He gives me a death sentence and two spies show up. You weren't coming to help me," she accused, "you were sent to find out what I know and what I might have shared with him."

"Kendall," James addressed her in a voice he forced to be gentle, "I knew nothing about you or what you were going through until a few days ago. I came to help you but to do that I need to know why this Trevino wants you dead so badly."

Kendall let out a bitter laugh at this. "Right, sure, help me, help you." She shook her head. "I'll make it simple for you." She glanced to Felix unfavourably. "For all of you. I'm a cartographer, a damn good one with a masters in History and Geography and an interest in South America and I've been a surveyor as well. I know maps, I know roads and paths including ones forgotten, ones not on any modern map but you know all that. Well he...Trevino came to learn of it too." She dipped her head slightly and frowned before looking back up to James again. "I came to Mexico because my older sister killed herself and I needed to get away from that. You know she was in a real shitty marriage but I didn't think she was the type to commit suicide."

James could feel Kendall's eyes burning into him and he felt a prickle of guilt. Kendall couldn't know the truth of Paris' death, no one knew it thanks to Elliot Carver's media cover up. At the time James couldn't stop the lie and then after Elliot had been stopped James had just wanted to forget the whole sordid mess. He had slipped off for a brief holiday with Chinese intelligence agent Wai Lin and put Paris from his mind. Now he felt bad that Kendall had had to spent the past two years believing her sister had committed suicide, never knowing she had been murdered. Yet no confession came from him because he knew he had to get Kendall on his side to learn what she knew, what Trevino had learned from her and how much of it had been given up willingly.

"It didn't take long for Trevino's men to snatch me," Kendall continued, "lifted in broad daylight and only my boyfriend protested. Last I saw him he was lying screaming in his own blood. Trevino never bothered to let me know if he lived or not." She shrugged lightly.

"Do you know how he learned about you?" Celestine quipped, her voice quiet and curious whilst her soft, blue stare was sympathetic and tender.

It annoyed James to have the French spy standing learning all that they did but since they were in a French hideout he couldn't quibble about it. If it had been Mathis he might have felt better about it, Mathis was a good friend and ally and James knew he could trust him. Celestine he was still very unsure about.

"Yes," Kendall answered confidently, "he took delight in telling me that." She turned to face Felix again, her turquoise gaze fiery and accusing. "He said some friend of his in the CIA let him know because they thought I would interest him. He said I had a file which became active when I entered Mexico because the CIA deemed it of interest to them."

James took note of how Kendall couldn't bring herself to say Trevino's name and he wondered if it was fear. 'Speak of the devil and he shall appear,' he thought dryly.

Her gaze simmered as she continued to look at Felix, her face taut with hatred. "I can only assume," she remarked tartly, "that I had a file because my brother-in-law happened to be a corrupt media baron since I had never committed any crime. You and your people knew I was in Mexico from the start and they let him know it too and then they did nothing when he took me. Nothing when he chained me up in a dark, windowless prison with rats for friends, nothing when he had me tortured, nothing when his men had their fun to try and break me, nothing until they knew he was done with me and feared what I must have told him."

It took everything in Felix to keep his gaze emotionless. He felt the heat of her words as if a very real tongue of fire burned his skin. Worse, he felt guilty and wondered why he should when he, like James, had never known about Kendall or her plight until just a few days ago. This wasn't his doing and yet he felt responsible anyway. Perhaps because she was right- it had never been a rescue mission. MI6 and the CIA didn't care if Kendall McKenna lived or died, they just cared about what secrets she had and what she knew about the trade routes Trevino was using to ship his illegal wares, routes no one else could uncover.

"If Emmanuel Trevino did all those things to you and left you to die and wants you dead still then you must want to stop him," Felix said calmly. "I'm not going to apologise, it wouldn't mean much, I'm just going to ask that you help us stop Trevino, for you but also for everyone else that he has hurt and will hurt. You know what he's using those secret routes for, don't you?"

"Transporting drugs and weapons," she answered bitterly. "He wants to control the major drugs supply throughout the world."

"And slaves," Felix added, "sex slaves from South America and those are just the ones we know of."

Kendall tensed and a moment of surprise flickered through her eyes. "Slaves?" she echoed, almost in a whisper.

Felix nodded sombrely. "Kendall, where is he? How can we ambush him?"

James watched Felix and Kendall's exchange with an odd fascination. Felix was being blunt with her and somehow it was working. He wondered at her implication that the CIA had played a role in her suffering and it made him fill with anger. How could they have sat by and let her suffer? Why had they allowed Trevino two years to learn about hidden trade routes for his wares? How many had known about this? Was it just one corrupt, soulless agent who even now was potentially delivering information to the drug lord? James tensed at the thought, was it how the police had found him and Felix so hastily in Mexico City or was he being paranoid?

"El Laberinto del Diablo, he'll be attempting to travel that way," Kendall retorted. She looked at Felix firmly and commented stubbornly, "but you can't find it or navigate it, not without me."

"The Devil's Labyrinth," Celestine murmured. "We had heard rumours."

James glanced over at the blonde and said quietly, "your people seem to have heard a lot. How did you find us again? I know you say you were following Trevino's men but how did that bring you to us at the docks in a boat?" He regarded her with suspicion, forcing himself to look at her spy to spy and not man to woman. He wasn't immune to her looks, she had a soft, elegant beauty about her but for now he could ignore it because now wasn't the time for distractions.

Celestine gave him a honeyed smile. "I was coming from this hideout, I took the boat to minimise people noticing or pursuing me. I was coming to the town as intel suggested the man was there and then I heard the gunfire and the rest you know. I had heard you and Mr. Leiter were in the country and on the move but I wasn't expecting to meet you so soon. It was a pleasant surprise to see you on the rooftops."

James gave a small smile in response to that. "I do like to keep on top of things," he jested wryly.

"Will you accept that I intend to see this through with you?" Celestine queried innocently. She nodded in Kendall's direction. "I can't ignore the good fortune of you having someone who might actually get us directly to Trevino and give us an advantage over him. We want him at all costs."

James shrugged. "I've been informed our superiors have agreed to a parley so regardless of what I think I can't stop you from coming. As for who gets the prize, I guess that will depend on which of us claims it first."

Celestine's smile widened. "You'll find me good company Mr. Bond, I promise."

"I hope so," James mused.

Celestine looked to Kendall again. "And I can help Miss McKenna to blend in better, you and Mr. Leiter don't strike me as being talented in the art of style."

"Poor Felix, you'll wound him with that," James joked. "At any rate I hope you're not suggesting we have time for fashion lessons and shopping sprees?" he added dryly with a condescending look.

"Sadly not but you must admit Miss McKenna stands out with her wounds and er...unkempt appearance. Better to travel without raising more questions than we need."

"I suppose, well it's entirely up to her," James answered dismissively.

Kendall and Felix had gone quiet. Kendall seemed to be daring Felix to prompt her whilst he was waiting for her to continue on of her own accord. She had clammed up and was frowning again as if she had decided she had given him too much information.

Felix suppressed a sigh. "Where is this maze?" he pried.

"Labyrinth," Kendall scorned him, "mazes are small, think bigger."

"Well where does it start? Where will Trevino be?" Felix queried in exasperation.

"At the centre where his main supply of heroin is waiting to be moved, down in Colombia. I didn't give him the whole labyrinth," she added more quietly with a dejected look, "only a little but I held back all I could. It's why he sent me to the body barn, he knew I wouldn't give it up but he thought if he killed me slowly maybe he'd get a final confession in exchange for a quick death." She shuddered. "Maybe he would have."

Felix's grey gaze warmed a little. He wanted to console the woman, to reassure her that it wasn't her fault she had given into the pain, that she had done well holding back something from the man but the right words wouldn't come to mind and he felt anything he said would seem false or patronising. It was made worse by the fact that he knew she would be regarded as a traitor despite being tortured, that the CIA would be quite willing to blame her for the criminal finding an easy way to smuggle his goods even though they had in fact delivered her and her knowledge to Trevino on a silver platter.

The Texan stood upright at last, he didn't want to push the issue anymore with her. He said, "we should get breakfast since I still need some coffee and I don't think I can deal with drug barons and secret roads on an empty stomach."

"Typical American," Celestine scoffed, "always thinking with your stomach."

Felix gave the French woman a wilting stare. "Isn't that racial stereotyping?"

Celestine smiled back innocently. "Not if it's true," she retorted lightly.

James chuckled. "Coming from the French woman who had croissants for breakfast."

Felix raised his sandy blonde eyebrows at this. "How hypocritical mocking me."

"It won't be hypocritical if you get a cheeseburger and a coke," Celestine retorted tauntingly.

Felix looked in Kendall's direction and she smiled back. "I'm half-Mexican," she remarked chirpily, some of her previous perkiness creeping back into her voice, "it's not a stereotype if I do it."

"What's the other half?" Felix pried.

A scowl replaced the smile swiftly. "New York," she grumbled.

"So American," Felix answered with a teasing grin.

"Well I know a good place," Celestine said brightly, "it's not far and it should be safe."

"What do they serve?" James queried.

"Good food, no cheap fast food, I promise," Celestine retorted reassuringly. "Come, if we're quick we'll get there for the breakfast menu before the morning rush."

* * *

Kendall was nervous as they headed for the plane. She was seated in the back seat beside Celestine whilst James drove and Felix sat beside him.

"Are you worried about flying?" Celestine pried quietly.

Kendall glanced at the French woman calmly before shaking her head. "No," she answered softly, "more concerned with the boarding."

"Why's that then?" James quipped from the front.

"I don't have a passport," Kendall grumbled bitterly, "sure you've guessed that much."

Felix and James exchanged a look before Felix glanced back down the middle gap to give the woman a reassuring smile. "But you do, you just misplaced it," he answered brightly.

Kendall frowned back at him, speculating over what he meant by that. "I don't like the idea of going to a public airport either," she murmured. "He has eyes everywhere."

"You know," Felix mused, "I have a friend who's really going to make your day." He returned his attention to the road and directing James.

James drove with a reluctant patience, ill liking the vehicle of choice. It was an Audi A6, perfectly pleasant by itself but no sports car. Even if James could have accelerated up the roads in the car without a care he wouldn't have as it wouldn't be worth Felix's admonishing. Still, it was a missed chance to see if Celestine liked fast cars.

They drove through a late afternoon for two hours before reaching a long stretch of flat grounds in the middle of nowhere. Kendall's suspicions grew when the car slowed and Felix directed it over to a large, red barn. At the sight of the barn the young woman tensed and paled just a little before dropping her gaze to her lap.

The car stopped and James exited first. Celestine slipped out just as quickly and gave her limber limbs a much needed stretch before moving to the boot where their luggage was stored. Felix glanced back at the unopened passenger door behind him. He didn't think Kendall was really waiting for someone to assist her out but he moved to the door anyway and tugged it open.

Kendall was still staring at her lap and fidgeting with her fingers on it. She did not look at Felix though she felt his curious stare upon him. "Are we to go in there?" she queried quietly.

Felix glanced over his shoulder through his large, dark shades at the barn and then back to Kendall. "Yes," he answered calmly, "for a moment."

James stepped round the back of the car to fetch his case and eavesdrop in on Felix and Kendall's conversation. He knew he should be making more of an effort with the girl but he was finding it quite impossible. He felt as much pity towards her as he did anger and whilst the anger was certainly not her fault he could not seem to cool it. He was meant to be assuring her of his loyalty towards her in an attempt to make it easier for her to trust him and yet he could not do it. It troubled him that he struggled with the white lies of charm that normally came so easily to him and he knew it was because of Paris. He had deceived Paris with charm, his relationship with her had brought about her murder and Kendall knew nothing of it. She knew nothing of his deception, nothing of the true nature of her sister's death and he hated himself for that and Kendall for her ignorance of it. Damn it why should he care? He had never loved Paris, hell he still didn't but her death had been his fault and if Kendall suffered he knew he would have that on his conscience too and he didn't think he could handle the burden of two sisters' murders.

"It's just a barn," Felix assured Kendall.

Kendall shook her head and still refrained from looking at the spy. "It's not," she accused, "no more than the other barn was."

Felix sighed. "Alright, it's not," he admitted calmly. "There's a plane in it and a pilot, Jack Wade, but that's it. You wouldn't think we would bring you to another barn like that?"

Kendall shrugged. "I told you what I told...him, maybe you think you can navigate the labyrinth without me, maybe you can find him without needing me too. Maybe I'm not worth the risk of taking out of the country."

Felix crouched down so that he was level with the woman. "Being blue doesn't suit you," he said with a small smile. "Come on, you can pick the music on the plane."

She finally turned to face the blonde. "There's really a plane?" she made a question.

Felix nodded. "Yes."

Her turquoise gaze flickered to the barn mistrustfully. "And I'm really going on it with all of you?"

"Yes."

"Alright."

Kendall exited the car at last and went for the boot to get her small case. All her belongings were recent purchases in the city thanks to the generosity of French intelligence via Celestine. It had been a missed opportunity for James who had gritted his teeth upon seeing all that had been purchased and grumbled to the French spy about the 'vanity of women'. Celestine had retorted that he was merely sore for missing a chance to woo Kendall over.

Luggage in hand the four headed to the barn. Felix matched pace with Kendall who walked slow, still laboured by her ankle wound. It left James to enter the barn first and be greeted by the merry voice of Jack Wade.

"Jimmy about time you got here! Heat's atrocious!" Jack cried out. He was flamboyantly dressed, less secret agent and more tourist taking flying lessons. Jack's casual appearance was instantly off-putting to James and Celestine but Kendall found herself eased by it and his warm, instantly friendly attitude.

Kendall's eyes widened at the sight of the small plane concealed in the barn. It was better than a simple propeller plane, a small, private and expensive vehicle that looked like it would offer generous space for four.

"Where did this come from?" Celestine queried as she looked with suspicion from Jack to Felix. "Ca doit coûter cher ça, non?" she added followed by a scornful tut.

"A loaner from the US of A," Jack answered. "You must be the French lady we've been hearing about," he added bluntly before sticking out a hand. "Jack Wade, CIA."

Celestine accepted the hand and gave it a brief shake. "Celestine Guyot, the French lady," she answered with a smile.

Jack smiled too before releasing her hand and stepping past her and James to Kendall and Felix. "Felix who's running this show then? You, Jimmy or Miss Guyot?" he queried with a taunting glimmer in his gaze. His blue stare darted to Kendall. "Ah Miss McKenna, hello again, I've got a present for you." He stepped up to her and fumbled in his shirt pocket before producing a navy passport.

Kendall accepted it with surprise, opened it and looked at her own face and details in astonishment. "When did you get the time?" she queried faintly.

"My friends made the time," Jack answered cryptically. "Keep a tight hold of it now."

Kendall nodded before pocketing it in her front breast pocket of her cream shirt.

"Right," Jack said brightly. "Enough time wasted, everyone on board."

They all boarded the plane with ease. Jack was last naturally, after doing a final check before he shut himself off in the cockpit. He eased the plane out of the barn with little difficulty before treating them to a mildly bumpy takeoff.

"Who's picking up the car?" Kendall enquired curiously as she gazed back down at the abandoned Audi.

Felix shrugged. "Someone who doesn't want it marked against the budget as a loss probably," he jested.

Kendall smiled and then remarked brightly, "so how do I put on music on this thing?"

James looked across at her sharply and then gave Felix an accusing stare. "Music?" he echoed dryly.

Felix had the grace to look sheepish as he grinned back at James. "Well we're going to Colombia," he reminded him, "Latin music would be appropriate."

James suppressed a groan. "Pity there's no bar on this thing," he complained.

The music came from a tinny inbuilt speaker beside the intercom that linked the main plane with the cockpit. It took a few twists of the knobs and tweaking on Kendall's part before she found a pleasing upbeat Latin tune. James thought numerous curses to himself whilst Celestine smiled appreciatively and commented that it made the mood 'plus joyeuse'.

Two hours into the flight they hit an unpleasant bout of turbulence. Jack never alluded to it and Kendall and James seemed unperturbed by it but Celestine tensed slightly and Felix turned a shade paler.

"Felix you look ghostly," James teased with a grin.

Felix gave his friend a biting smile in answer even as his hands took a tight grip of his armrests.

"Surely you've flown with Jack before?" James made it a question.

"No," Felix confessed, "first time for everything isn't there?"

"It's not so bad," Kendall commented brightly. She sat on Felix's right staring out the window with fascination. "I was once on a plane that hit a thunderstorm, got struck by lightning and rattled by rain, the oxygen masks came down and we had to make an unscheduled landing." She turned to smile at Felix. "It was very exciting."

"Christ," Felix cursed as he shook his head.

"Maybe we could talk about something else?" Celestine suggested with a desperate stare. "I think we need to get our story straight for Colombia. I took the liberty of booking us accommodation near Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta."

"Really?" James remarked, at once suspicious and pleased. He liked that Celestine had already taken action but he disliked that neither he nor Felix had gotten so far ahead.

She nodded. "Couldn't leave it to the American to get us good accommodation. Il dormirait dans une grange," she scorned.

Kendall's turquoise gaze flickered over to Celestine with immediately scorn. "Une grange?" she echoed frostily.

Celestine looked over in surprise and realised her error. "Ah pardon, it was a bad turn of phrase," she admitted.

"I feel I've been insulted," Felix complained.

James chucked dryly. "You've been called worse than the American Felix," he reminded him. "So where are we staying?" He quickly returned to the subject at hand to distract Kendall from the unintended reminder. He knew full well une grange meant 'a barn'.

"La Dama De La Luna," Celestine retorted with a small smile. "Sounds romantic doesn't it?"

"The Lady of the Moon," Kendall translated. She nodded agreeably. "I like it."

"Well you're right, I wouldn't have picked anything with such a daft name," Felix scorned. "It's a hotel not a person."

"Bloody pretentious," James agreed.

Celestine rolled her eyes at that. "What would you prefer? Five star bedrooms with all the standard luxuries expected- breakfast, hot showers and baths, clean, soft sheets, high class food and drink, and good security or no breakfast, dirty mattresses, cold water and," she winced, "horrid bugs!"

Felix chucked at this. "Good hard shoe would take care of them and a cold shower is perfect to wake you up," he teased. "Nothing wrong with roughing it."

"You rough it," Celestine snapped at him before she drew herself upright and visibly shuddered. "As far as I'm concerned these interludes of luxury between the bouts of violence are perks of the job."

James' smile widened at this as he privately agreed with Celestine's sentiments.

The plane gave an unexpected shudder and Felix cried out before he could help himself. "Shit!" he snapped. Kendall gave him an odd, scrutinising stare prompting him to look her way with irritation and query sharply, "what is it?"

Kendall grinned in answer. "I haven't seen you nervous yet," she informed him chirpily. "I'd been dismissing you as a CIA robot until now but you are human it seems."

Felix gritted his teeth together as the plane gave another shake and he swallowed down a swear. "Glad you're enjoying this," he grumbled.

Kendall's grin widened. "I believe I am," she admitted. She leaned forward and twisted the knob of the speaker to turn the music up. She began to sing along quietly.

James murmured a curse before giving Celestine a look of exasperation. The blonde French woman had turned almost as pale as the nervous Texan. "You were mentioning getting our story straight?" James quipped.

"Oui, simple enough of course, two men and two women, it's obvious. We are a pair of couples together on holiday. I think it would be more suspicious to arrive in such fashion and claim otherwise, don't you?"

"Of course," James replied amicably, "and I have to assume then it would only be suspicious if we didn't have a shared suite?" He raised a dark eyebrow at this and a mischievous glint darted through his dark blue eyes.

Celestine smiled back at him coyly. "You assume you're not newly wed to our sweet Miss McKenna?"

James stiffened slightly before glancing over at Kendall. She was still singing along in Spanish to the fast paced garbage rattling out of the speaker, barely audible over the hum of the plane. She was entirely ignorant to their conversation as was Felix who was rigid and staring forward to the cockpit as if trying to will Jack to keep the plane safe. "Well they're no better matched," James admitted woefully.

"And Mister Leiter and I would be so well matched, two blondes and you and Miss McKenna, two dark, broody brunettes," Celestine teased. "Ah but I heard the American sleeping in our hideout, he snores." She pouted slightly. "Yet he did not wake Miss McKenna, perhaps they are better matched."

James brightened slightly before answering dryly, "or your painkillers did their work and kept her oblivious to it."

Celestine gave a soft, quick laugh. "Perhaps," she admitted. "Well we shall be Mr and Mrs du Montes, adjoining rooms with Mr and Mrs Young, two beds each, we like our space."

"Oh dear," James lamented. "Are we on a trial separation? Saving face in public for our friends? One final holiday?"

"Parfait," Celestine answered happily.

"Well Mrs du Montes I must do what I can to woo you back then."

* * *

Santa Marta, Magdalena Department, Colombia

It was close to eight p.m local time when they arrived at their hotel. They had landed on a private strip on the outskirts of the city where a moody agent masquerading as a taxi driver had been waiting to escort them from the plane to their hotel. Jack Wade was convinced that he had made it into the country without suspicion but James and Kendall both had their doubts about this.

When it came to their flashy accommodation, which Felix continued to protest, Celestine reasoned that if they appeared as tourists and stayed amongst a crowd in a busy part of the city they wouldn't arouse suspicion. James agreed, voicing the opinion that they were unlikely to be noticed or targeted amongst a crowded area and that it would make for a good base close to their target. Felix had grumbled that James simply couldn't come to terms with staying somewhere less than first class.

The hotel La Dama De La Luna was an impressive sight. A sprawling complex of towering white walls and glittering windows, many winking with an inviting pale gold glow. It sat with the coast calm before it, a wide strip of soft sand, grey in the night with torchlight winking every few along it and music calling up from a local beach bar. Behind the complex were the forests rising up in the mountains, vast and black against the sapphire sky they looked ominous against the light and life of the hotel as if they might swallow it into darkness.

Kendall looked to the mountains warily as their taxi took them up the hotel's main pathway and closer to them. She was immune to the combination of natural and artificial beauty that the La Dama De La Luna took advantage of to create an inviting scene. Palm trees lined either side of the smooth strip of path that was coloured to mimic the golden cream of the sandy beach. Between the trees tall, wooden posts stood with false orange flames flickering at the top of them powered by hidden bulbs.

The taxi halted at the main entrance and the small group exited. James hastened to the luggage and waved off the approaching bellboy whilst Felix exchanged a few words with the taxi driver before waving him off. Kendall and Celestine took their own cases resulting in a muted half-shrug from James before he led the way up the wide ivory steps to the large glass doors.

It was Celestine who hastened to the front desk to check them in, two rooms under the names du Montes and Young, booked in advance by her people. She accepted the keys with a bright smile before turning back to the trio behind her. She passed one key to Felix and then led the way to the lifts.

"I'd rather take the stairs," Kendall murmured.

"It's the tenth floor," Celestine retorted.

"Good exercise then," Kendall retorted as she glanced to the brightly lit, red carpeted staircase hopefully.

James glanced at the two brass doored lifts ahead. 'Small, confined space with no windows,' he thought dryly. 'Not hard to see the issue.'

"Maybe it would be good to walk and take in the hotel," James remarked tranquilly. He led the way to the staircase and began the ascent.

They made it up to the tenth floor with only a little effort. The hotel was busy but the staircases uncrowded and the slowest of them was Kendall with her healing ankle. She showed no signs of pain and only a little fatigue when they finally reached their rooms.

"I think dinner and the bar would be good," James suggested. "Give us a chance to take in the climate. It's too late for the mountains at any rate."

"A wash first," Celestine answered as she unlocked the door and led the way in.

Felix unlocked the door beside it and held the door open for Kendall. "After you Mrs Young."

"I find it horribly unfair that I don't get a ring to go with this cover," Kendall complained before she headed in.

"We're a modern couple," Felix joked, "we don't need rings to show our love."

Kendall sighed mournfully and glanced over her shoulder at him. "And if the other guests should ask about how you proposed?"

"Why are we assuming I did?" Felix retorted. "Maybe we're very modern and you proposed. Yes, I like that, we were in a jazz club, you got flustered and our friends the du Montes bore witness."

"So we were married first then?" James queried. He was lingering in his doorway about to follow after Celestine.

"Yes and with such a snobby name like yours I expect your wife married you for money," Felix scorned.

"Certainly not for his looks!" Celestine shouted back teasingly.

"No that's why he married you," Felix retorted. "Trophy wife number two? Or is it three?" He gave James a wink before hastening into his room at last.

James laughed despite himself and shook his head. "I'm not old enough for three," he murmured before he headed into his own room. For the first time in a while he actually felt joyful and for a very brief moment looking at Celestine smiling at him from the centre of their large quarters he could almost believe they really were friends on holiday sharing a romantic liaision.


	5. Chapter 5- Dinner Amongst Friends

Felix sat out on the balcony puffing cigarette smoke serenely into the night. The skies were clear, the moon plump but not quite ripe and the stars numerous and bright. Music, soft chatter and laughter called up from down below. The balcony faced the centre courtyard of the hotel offering a view of one of its pools below and a large bar that also provided entertainment. The music wasn't to Felix's tastes, no more than the sweetened artificial illusion of paradise the palm trees, sand coloured tiles and low amber lighting tried to create.

He cast a critical grey eye inwards to the large room open to his right. He had a decent view of a large living area joined with a kitchenette and two single beds and from his vantage point he could see that Kendall wasn't visible. Kendall was still in the bath. His gaze flickered to the watch on his right wrist, it was half eight, if she didn't hurry they weren't going to make dinner. At least she had had the good grace to let him get ready first, not that he had troubled himself with much effort. There was no point when Felix knew Bond would out dazzle him. James was a true Englishman, it was in their nature to ooze sophistication and charm it was not usually in a Texan's and Felix was no exception to this. James would look dapper in whatever suit he had procured for the trip and Felix would look lesser in comparison, he couldn't help it, his blonde hair was unruly by nature, his grey eyes looked pale and colourless against James' sapphire gaze and suits did not sit as well on Felix's tall, thin frame as they did on James' toned figure.

Felix wondered why his friend hadn't come knocking yet and wondered dryly if he was otherwise occupied. Celestine was a beautiful looking woman and wouldn't it just be like James to savour pleasure with his work rather than wait until after. James lived by the philosophy of living life in the moment. Felix supposed the passion for women ran alongside the passion for violence, everything was in the heat of the moment for James. When the trouble died down so too did the desire, James wasn't one for girlfriends or long term relationships. Felix envied and pitied him for it.

With a rue smile the Texan admitted privately to himself that just once he would be happy to experience that mad rush of heated sex amidst the carnage with a beautiful woman without being burdened about wondering what it would lead to or when it might end, just simply seizing the moment before the next battle came. He frowned as he realised how likely that was to happen. James would get the beautiful French spy...maybe...whilst he got saddled with the dubious cartographer whose allegiance was shady and whose motivations were questionable and presumably selfish.

Kendall, finally ready, pushed at the bathroom door slowly and cautiously. It hadn't been shut to begin with, she had no desire to be closed off from the world yet again even if it was in a bath. She peered outwards at the small living area of their quarters with a guarded gaze. The main door of the apartment remained closed, the coffee table and couch were undisturbed and there was no audible sound of distress. She pushed the door open fully at last with one hand, a knife tight in the other, and crept out quietly on bare feet. Had Felix left her? Was he so trusting that she wouldn't take a chance to run? Was he so certain this hotel was safe and she wouldn't get grabbed in his absence?

Towel bound, the brunette moved past the cover of the outer bathroom wall to investigate the apartment fully.

"Christ aren't you ready yet?"

Kendall jumped and cursed herself for being surprised. The balcony, an easy and obvious point of entry and she had left it as a blind spot! She glared outwards at the blonde relaxing back in a white plastic chair, feet carelessly propped up on the edge of the round table. "I thought you might have gone," she remarked flatly.

Felix took her in quickly. Celestine had been good on her word and taken Kendall for a quick 'clean up' before they had come to Colombia. Her hair was no longer tatty and the split red ends had been cut out of it leaving it in choppy, dark, loose curls, tight ringlets now with the damp. The mild swelling at the corner of her mouth and below her nose and bruising edged about her neck were all vanished under whatever expensive make-up Celestine had helped her procure and the dusting of dark glittery eyeshadow kept attention from the bloodshot veins leading to her pupils.

"In the time it's taken you to get ready I suppose it's not unthinkable that I've already had dinner," Felix mused. He sat upright and stubbed out his cigarette in the glass ashtray on the table.

"It's been a while since I've been able to enjoy a bath," Kendall retorted calmly.

"Has it been a while since you've enjoyed a towel or do you think you could hurry up and get dressed?" He gave her a mocking smile and got a glare in answer.

Kendall turned sharply from him and stormed over to the single beds. Her suitcase lay open on one. She dropped the knife beside it and tugged out one of the dresses Celestine has insisted she get. She looked at it and frowned. She would rather tug on a pair of sweats and tuck into junk food in bed whilst watching a trashy movie. She wondered coldly when she had last done anything like that before she finally got changed.

The door knocked and Felix stood and hastened to get it. He didn't bother looking Kendall's way but instead murmured chirpily, "I hope you're decent Mrs. Young." He opened the door and greeted James and Celestine with a tired smile.

"Felix, where's your tie and jacket?" James quipped.

"Too warm for that," Felix scoffed.

James was wearing a suit as expected, tailor fitted, black, dinner jacket and tie included with a snow white shirt, rolex just visible from the cuff, black trousers and polished black shoes, steel capped just in case.

Celestine was in a dress of rose gold sequins. There was a hint of flesh at the bust but not too much and it was held up with two loose straps over the shoulders which fell in a manner that suggested a linking at the back. It was tight on her curves and flattered the blush at her cheeks and sparkle in her eyes. Her pale, foamy blonde locks were up in a wavy bun with a few strands left to fall at the edges of her face drawing attention to the diamond drops sparkling on either ear. Looking at her caused a slight stirring in Felix, he was only human after all. Banishing his desire he stepped back from the door and glanced in Kendall's direction at last.

Kendall's dress was navy, low at the bust by design with straps that settled down the shoulders level with the chest, it was tight at the waist and then dropped in long pleats almost to the floor. Flattering but mostly concealing it kept most of her scars and bruises from sight. Any marks on her face, neck and chest were concealed with make up and guarded by her spill of her dark hair, which was carefully brushed over her right shoulder. She had no jewellery and the clutch purse in her right hand, which the knife was now concealed within, was plain.

Felix thought the younger woman looked wretchedly uncomfortable but he didn't comment on it. "Let me set the room then," he murmured.

James struggled to subdue a frown at the sight of Kendall. Paris had favoured navy dresses too, convinced that they had complimented her eyes. Against Kendall's turquoise gaze the navy wasn't quite right. He noticed her discomfort as well and put it down to presumably not having worn dresses or high heels in two years. It was a superficial thought and he dismissed it just as quickly.

Felix locked the balcony, powdered the handles so if there was a disturbance it would be noticeable, shut the curtains across them and then dragged the coffee table in front of them. He checked the locker in the wardrobe and set up an ink bomb near it before giving the bathroom a quick scrutiny. He glanced in the mirror and smiled at the sad smilie face etched in the fading steam on the glass. A minor protest against helping the spies? A protest against dinner? He didn't know. He was starting to realise he didn't really know much about Kendall McKenna. Had the Latin music, fast food lover been an act or a glimpse of the real thing?

The blonde moved back out to the room and hit the lights before urging them all out again. His last act was to pull one of the chairs close to the door before he shut it so one entering without expecting it would have to disturb it.

James and Celestine walked arm in arm. Seeing that blonde did not regard the English spy with a star studded gaze suggested to Felix that they had not yet done a dance in the sheets and it gave him just a glimmer of hope. He glanced at Kendall once more and offered out a hand.

Kendall glanced down at the hand before giving him a smile. "I thought we were a modern couple Mr Young," she chided softly.

Felix laughed. "Right Mrs Young." He let his hand fall limp by his side.

They reached the lifts and James and Celestine looked to Kendall expectantly. "It will be quite safe," Celestine assured.

"I don't doubt it," Kendall murmured, "but I'd rather walk."

"Down ten flights in heels?" Celestine queried dubiously.

Kendall shrugged. "I like the challenge."

"No need to be difficult," James berated her, "it will only take a minute and we won't get stuck and if we do I'll get us out again, alright?"

Kendall frowned back at him. "I don't like confined spaces and you know why so give me a break."

"Why don't we see who's quickest?" Felix injected swiftly. "You pair take the lift, we'll take the stairs and see you at the restaurant hmm?"

"Alright," Celestine agreed as she gave the American a pleased grin, "but we do have the advantage." She turned back to the lift and pressed a button.

Kendall immediately doubled over and hastened to pluck off her shoes. "We'll see," she murmured mischievously. Shoes in one hand she started running for the stairs.

"Wasn't expecting that," Felix admitted. "See you down there." He took off after Kendall.

James and Celestine exchanged a look as they remained waiting for the lift. "I don't get that girl," James murmured wearily, "and I'm not sure I've the time for her."

"She has been through a lot," Celestine reminded him.

"So she says," James argued, "but what if it's just an act?"

"That again? James I saw her injuries, no one would endure that willingly," she retorted.

James sighed. "I don't know, I don't know her so I can't trust her and yet here we are in unfamiliar, dangerous territory doing exactly that. What if she leads us straight into a trap?"

"She didn't even want to come until Felix talked her into it," Celestine reminded him.

The lift binged and the doors opened granted them entry. They stepped in and James was relieved to find it empty. "That could all be a part of the act," James grumbled. "Wouldn't have mattered I suppose, we'd have brought her whether she willed it or not, probably can't find Trevino without her."

"And that's what you really hate," Celestine mused, "that you need her."

"No," he admitted quietly, "what I hate is that you might be right and she is a victim and here we are taking her back to the devil that hurt her and we're just using her."

"It's the nature of the job," Celestine replied. "If we have to use her to stop Trevino then that's what we will do. You don't have to like it, I don't either but it has to be done. We don't have to be mean about it though and we haven't been, she's getting free accommodations in a five star hotel, it's not all bad." She gave James a reassuring smile. "Come on, play now, work later, if Kendall has a nice night tonight it might make it a lot easier getting her to show us the maps and routes of the labyrinth tomorrow."

James nodded agreeably.

Felix watched humorously as Kendall cleared the final staircase by hopping on the bannister and sliding down it sideways to the chagrin of other guests. She gave a light hearted squeal as she slid down it past scolding adults and envious eyed children before spilling onto the red carpet that ended the staircase and separated it from the lobby. She rolled with a loud giggle causing several people to look her way as if she were mad.

Felix paused as he descended the last step. Really he should be embarrassed, maybe even a little annoyed by all the attention she was garnering but all he felt was amusement. "Are you quite alright there Mrs. Young?" he queried as he came to a halt at her feet putting her in his shadow.

She stopped giggling to gaze up at him with a warm, humorous gaze that filled her turquoise stare with an appealing light. "I thought I'd forgotten how to do that," she admitted as she pushed herself up on her elbows.

Her hair was in disarray, her dress straps needed fixed and the pleats were bunched up at her ankles and yet, to Felix, she looked more appealing than she had in their room. "To do what?" he quipped. She caught her breath before gazing down at her lap with a sheepish grin. "Have fun," she answered softly.

Felix stepped round her to offer his left hand down. He shot a glowering staff member a reassuring smile as he did. "Come on now, the race is still on," he reminded her.

"Right." Kendall accepted his hand this time and allowed him to hoist her to her feet. "We have to run now you know," she said to him.

"I suppose we do."

The pair broke into a run drawing more looks of astonishment and disgust in their direction. They escaped outside to the courtyard and hastened round past the pool before coming to a breathless halt at the restaurant entrance where James and Celestine had only just arrived.

"Damn it!" Felix cursed. "So close."

"And yet so far," James answered. "Did you two run here?" He took in their red faced breathless forms and shook his head scornfully.

Celestine smiled and shook her head as well. "I told you the lift was quicker," she retorted.

"Less fun," Kendall answered as she released Felix's hand to put her shoes back on.

"I have to agree," Felix mused.

James gave his friend an odd look as he wondered if Felix was being serious or merely playing the game.

They were shown to their table quickly and offered menus. Kendall puzzled over the choice with a frown before setting her menu down in frustration.

"Come on, you must like something there," James remarked. "Can't always be burger and fries."

"That was one time," Kendall grumbled. "Sorry I don't eat posh." She cast a moody stare back on the menu. "I don't even know what half this nonsense is," she grumbled.

"You're like a spoiled child," James complained.

Kendall gave him a heated look in answer. "I don't like eating out, so sue me if I'd rather be in pyjamas eating ice cream. I bet you've never even done that," she accused. "Can't picture it, hell do you even own sweatpants? Or jeans?"

James answered frostily, "that's hardly your business."

"Oh so you get to know all about me but it doesn't work both ways?" Kendall snapped back.

"I don't know all about you," James grumbled.

"You've all read a file on me," Kendall reminded him, "maybe it doesn't have everything in there but you certainly know more about me than I do about any of you." She sagged in her seat uncomfortably before adding more calmly, "I'm sorry, I forgot this was all a charade and not a real dinner amongst friends trying to get to know each other. Is it ever not a charade for you people?" she demanded quietly. Her eyes darted from James to Celestine and then to Felix accusingly.

"I genuinely don't like Jack's flying," Felix answered quietly, "that was no act. Not a CIA robot, remember?"

Kendall smiled again and nodded. "Right." She plucked up the menu again. "I'm bringing down the mood again, sorry I just...I'm nervous being here I suppose but that's alright."

They ordered their food and drinks at last and James and Kendall spent the meal mostly in silence. Felix tried to lighten the mood with Celestine's help and eventually got a few words out of James and Kendall. When their food was done they headed to the bar up by the pool. Felix and Celestine walked arm in arm this time and exchanged a few humorous stories whilst James and Kendall followed sharing a moody silence.

James watched Celestine and Felix with an ugly look, jealous that Felix could always so easily find humour even in the worst of situations and stay light hearted whilst James was dragged down by his uglier moods. He supposed, unfairly, that it was because unlike Felix he had the burden of lost loved ones to drag him down, the memories of women loved and lost, friends sacrificed and his parents who had had so little time to know and love. He realised with a stunned look that he was only assuming Felix had never really lost anyone but he didn't actually know because he had never bothered to ask.

"You know I am trying," Kendall muttered to the spy through gritted teeth, "but I was a prisoner for two years. You found me in a barn about to be tortured and killed, this is all just a tad overwhelming."

James glanced her way accusingly wishing she would stop making him feel guilty for her situation. "I know," he retorted coldly.

"No, you don't," she answered bluntly. "I've waited long enough for freedom and I'm still waiting and it's a shock to the system and hard to accept. It's not like I really have it yet with you lot and with him out there and still after me. I should be hot-tailing it as far from him as I can but instead here I am right in his domain and everything in me is telling me it's wrong and I should run or that..." She swallowed hard. "That he knows I'm here and he's watching and waiting and shit he has a whole operation you know, I only gave him routes but he already had the manpower. There's only three of you and this is South America, none of your governments have any power down here. I'm putting a lot of faith in you three to keep me safe, if he gets me back you know...well it won't be quick." She shuddered. "Anyway, it's a lot for you to ask me just to smile and be happy and have dinner and play merry but fuck I'm trying because you know something Mr...du Montes I do actually want to be happy again."

She turned from the spy and quickened her pace so that she did not have to hear his reply.

James watched her go with mixed emotions. Damn the guilt had been laid on thick now and he found it hard to shake off. He met Celestine's questioning stare and gave her a small smile in answer. She was getting a table whilst Felix was heading to the bar. He decided as he took in another of Celestine's bright contagious smiles that he too wanted to be happy again.

They started with cocktails. James took a vodka martini shaken not stirred whilst Felix opted for a traditional gin martini, Celestine chose a Manhattan whilst Kendall was talked into having at least one cocktail and chose a Cosmopolitan.

The night grew a little merrier as the four shared company with other hotel guests and soaked in the happy, carefree atmosphere that filled the courtyard. The music was boisterous and pleasant, courtesy of a live band and whilst some guests were rowdy everyone was in good spirits.

They called it a night just after one and headed back up to their rooms temporarily lightened of their woes thanks to alcohol.

When Felix opened the door to their room they found it in disarray. The chair was on its side by the door, the bed sheets were in a mess, the bathroom door was open and their clothes were scattered. Drawers and cupboards had been opened, the wardrobe was open, the secreted ink bomb by the safe had been set off and the safe, whilst mercifully still shut, was saturated with it.

Felix tugged his Browning out and immediately hastened to check the room, heading for the bathroom first.

Kendall opened her clutch and tugged out the knife as she gazed to the balcony doors vacantly. The coffee table was upturned and the curtains were open but the doors were shut.

"God damn it!" Felix cursed. He hastened out the door past Kendall and began banging on James and Celestine's door.

James opened the door with wide eyes, tie hanging parted on either shoulder, dinner jacket open and a smear of light bronze lipstick at his cheek.

"Hell James you've only had ten seconds," Felix snapped at him heatedly as he spied the lipstick stain. "We've been hit, I assume you haven't?"

James shook his head. "No, did they take anything?"

Felix shrugged. "Nothing important."

"Did they leave anything?" James queried seriously.

"Don't think so, if they have I haven't found it yet."

"I'll help you search."

James and Celestine joined Felix and Kendall in the room.

It was Kendall who finally found the message, it had been left between her crumpled bedsheets. It was a crude treasure map designed for a child with a skull and crossbones in the centre with a black X beneath it. There was a note to go with it- 'Navigate the map to your final resting place'.

"Well he knows I'm here then," she said softly.

After half an hour of thoroughly checking and righting the place Celestine eventually called down to the hotel reception to arrange a change of rooms. With some honeyed words and the offer of extra cash she had it arranged so that all four of them could move swiftly with minimal fuss. Within the hour they headed up another two floors to another set of adjoining rooms, this time a pair facing the front of the hotel.

After an inspection of the rooms James and Celestine were satisfied enough to go to bed. Felix chose to sit on the new balcony instead supping at another martini brought up from room service.

Kendall, nervous and wide awake, joined the blonde just after three in the morning. She had slipped out of her dress and heels into a t-shirt and shorts that exposed her long, bronzed legs.

"Aren't you tired?" Felix quipped. He was now chewing at the lemon rind from his drink.

"No," Kendall answered. She took a seat opposite him.

"You need to sleep."

"Not after that. That was just a warning, they could have come when we were there."

"They could have," Felix allowed, "but I would have shot them down."

"Just like that?" she queried sardonically with a raised eyebrow.

He nodded confidently. "Just like that."

"And what about now?" she demanded. "With all those martinis?"

"Don't be cruel now," he answered with a biting smile, "I can still shoot fine, had plenty of practice doing it."

She nodded this time and looked back through the open doors to the apartment.

"Stop glancing over your shoulder," Felix scolded her. "Look, it's late, we'll go in together and I'll stay up and let you sleep."

"No you won't," she retorted disbelievingly.

"I'll stay up for a bit, least til you nod off."

"Then what?"

"Then I'll sleep too," he answered teasingly. "Look, the door is secure and I've laid a trap."

"I know."

Felix frowned before sweeping both hands through his scruffy hair. "Come on then." He stood up and held out a hand to her.

Kendall just looked at it blankly before turning her stare out to the sea. It was black in the night, calm with a low tide, its gentle waves unheard over the music from the many bars that lined the beach.

Felix's frown deepened. He paced back into their quarters alone and into the bathroom to relieve himself. He paused and looked at his reflection in the mirror. Wrinkled linen shirt, scruffy, scarecrow hair and a tired, slightly drunken stare, not his best look but not his worst. He leaned in and breathed on the mirror softly before squiggling a smilie face on it with one finger. He gave the cartoon grin a bitter version of his own before exiting the room. She wouldn't see it.

When Felix returned to the balcony Kendall had her legs raised onto the seat and was hugging her knees close to her chest. He re-occupied the seat opposite her, tugged out a cigarette and lit it. "Let's watch the sunrise then," he remarked calmly.


	6. Chapter 6- Mountains of Trouble

Pre-Columbian, that was the key. Before Christopher Colombus brought the Europeans over there had existed a strong native presence in South America- a collection of numerous peoples intelligent, complicated, talented and crafty. These people had taken to the mountains to avoid the Spanish and had built hidden paths leading to villages and temples lost in the jungle. James considered it had the feel of an old-fashioned adventure movie to it, treasure hunters pacing through a foreign land wary of natives as they searched through vast jungles for forgotten relics. It made sense that this was how Trevino travelled through roads no one else could find, they were roads forgotten or unknown and many supposedly still undiscovered, roads Kendall had found by mixing her History with her Geography.

It was a humid morning as the three spies and cartographer paced up a mountainside deep within the tropical forest terrain. They had abandoned civilisation, swapping a modern, wooden walkway for bumpy, leaf littered soil, rivers, streams and shallow waterfalls and a collection of trees with long vines and up grown roots. The clues that Kendall was genuinely following a route were sparse and hard to find- faded carvings etched in stones half-hidden behind tall leaves, rock formations that seemed slightly askew as if unnatural and, more telling, carvings that were definitely not from natural wear.

James wondered how far they had to go as minutes turned into an hour and then an hour into two and then three and then finally they almost neared midday and the heat became insufferable. He didn't know what was worse- the sticky climate, the constant unsure footing thanks to hidden rocks and overgrown roots, the pestering of insects, the inability to tell if a branch snapping was an animal or something more sinister or the fact that he was putting all his faith in a woman that he still didn't entirely trust. God he knew it was foolish, foolish to still doubt Kendall and foolish to be out here following her into the unknown with these doubts in his mind.

The woman moved with a newfound confidence, pausing only a couple of times to consult the maps she had brought with her. She had procured them back in Mexico with Celestine's help, downloading many of them in the French safe house and printing a few to have in hand. None of it meant much to James, Felix or Celestine, and Kendall had explained that separate they weren't much good to anyone but with the right eye and knowledge one could form a map out of them for a labyrinth that led to Trevino.

Emmanuel Trevino. James finally put some thought towards their yet unmet foe, a bogeyman drug baron in South America who has spiced up his corrupt living by adding weapons trade and modern day sex slavery to the mix. James wondered mournfully what had happened to the criminals who just stuck with one trade. Had Kendall cracking open the world for him led to his expansion or had he always dabbled in a mixture of trades? A man with a spy in the CIA who had evaded the same organisation for enough years now for them to grow frustrated enough to agreed to a desperate rescuing of an asset they hoped would lead them to him. James knew he wasn't going to be a man to take lightly, no one who had the CIA, MI6 and French Intelligence after them should be underestimated.

James slid a casual glance out of the corner of his eye to Celestine. He had barely managed more than a kiss from her, the hit on Felix and Kendall's room had sucked the romance out of the evening and by the time they had moved to another suite he and Celestine had both been too tired for any more foreplay. She looked lovely even with the heat and fatigue of climbing up a mountain, her creamy complexion was brightened with a thin shimmer of sweat and her cheeks were glowing with the heat. Her smooth hair was carefully clipped back and up in a bun beneath a sun hat unaffected by the humidity and her pale blue eyes remained twinkling and bright. Her cream shirt and khaki shorts were flattering to her thin frame and James couldn't resist a glimpse to her slender legs. A second glance at her fair face alerted him almost too late to the glint of a pistol.

The Walther PPK was out and shooting immediately. A bullet danced behind Celestine towards the trees before she even reacted.

There was a curse and a hiss as the bullet met with flesh but it was only a graze.

The trees quivered with life as numerous birds took off in an alarmed flight from the scene betraying them to anyone watching from down below.

BANG! BANG!

All hell quickly broke loose as the spies were ambushed.

Kendall's eyes went wide as she stumbled backwards from a olive skinned man pointing the dark nozzle of a gun at her. She tripped over a root and hit the ground hard as he let off a shot.

BANG! BANG!

Felix, James and Celestine moved back to back to minimise the danger of being shot from behind. "I've got four!" Felix snapped.

"Three!" Celestine cried out.

"Three!" James retorted. His blue eyes were wide, they were badly outnumbered! How could these men have found them up here in the middle of nowhere? He searched accusingly for Kendall before gunfire prompted him to find a target.

BANG! BANG!

The gunfire was a roar in the Englishman's ears. He was almost out of bullets and he didn't think their foes were going to give him a chance to reload. BANG! Last bullet gone. He dove to the ground, new tactic. His hands went down and seized up up a vine. He struck it out hard like a whip striking one man in the face. It had the desired effect, in surprise the man dropped his Smith and Wesson and James immediately snatched it up and shot him in the face.

Kendall crept along the jungle, belly low to the ground as she crept her breathing short and shallow. Her knife was out in her right hand, ready to cut a blow. She watched the three men Felix was trying to shoot at.

The blonde CIA was now behind a tree defending himself but he was failing, with each wild shot he made the men moved closer.

BANG!

One swore and dropped to the ground as his knee was shot out in a spray of blood.

BANG!

Another hissed as he was temporarily deafened in his left ear.

Click. Click. "Damn it!" Felix's anxious, angry curse betrayed his loss of bullets.

The third man started to run for the tree. Kendall knew Felix wouldn't reload in time. She sucked in a breath. She could do nothing and hope. She could head for the trees and escape everyone at last, at least for a time. Felix was CIA, he hadn't come to help her, he had come to help his organisation, the same organisation who had betrayed her. Kendall had no time to debate it. Felix had ran down the stairs with her, James hadn't.

It happened in a blur. Kendall got to her feet and jumped like a wildcat. The knife cut clumsily through the side of the man's thick neck as the force of her body sent him to the ground. She didn't wait to see if it had been enough, she wasn't willing to take the chance. She moved the knife hard and fast. Round through the flesh at first and then up and down sending a spray of blood in all directions.

"Kendall? Kendall!"

She paused at the sound and realised the gunfire had died down. She looked down at the man, now a body and she saw red. Too much red, it gleamed off her hands and arms in a thick, damp stain. She dropped the knife and scrambled to her feet as she tasted vomit. "Jesus," she muttered before she turned and ran from the corpse.

Leaves and vines slapped her hard in the face but they didn't slow her as she moved. She stumbled only once over a root but did not fall. She had to get away. Away from the blood, away from the smell of death, the barn had reeked of the same rustic odour and it made her feel nauseous. She staggered to a halt as she came to a clearing of rocks with a wide deep pool of water with a loudly gushing waterfall as tall as two men filling it up. She stumbled down to the rocks to the edge of the pool and halted with a sob as she kneeled by it and looked at her blood soaked arms again.

She tensed suddenly when she felt two hands grip both her arms. She glanced down at them, they were larger than her own, warm from the heat of the gunfire, arms slick with sweat from the jungle run and coated in fine blonde hairs. They forced her own arms down gently in the pool.

"There we go," Felix murmured, "clean again."

"Just like that?" Kendall retorted quietly as she stared down at the blood rising up and dissolving in the clear water.

"Just like that," he answered brightly.

She glanced over her shoulder at him with a dejected look and shook her head. "It can't be."

"It has to be," he answered firmly. "They tried to kill us so we killed them."

"No, not that," she murmured. "Not just that anyway. What about all the blood on my hands because I gave up those routes to him? Because I made it easy for him to sneak his drugs and weapons across the world and..." She paused and swallowed hard. "And people. Shit Felix I didn't know about the people." Her turquoise eyes brightened with tears as she looked the CIA agent square in the eye.

"I know," he answered quietly. "When we put Trevino in the ground that's when you wash your hands."

He pulled her arms up from the refreshingly cool pool at last and made to release them but her hands caught in his and she held tight. He looked to her questioningly and she seemed to rethink whatever she was considering and released his hands.

Felix stood up and took a step back allowing her to step away from the rocks just as James came charging towards them with Celestine close behind. "How did they find us?!" James snapped angrily.

The Englishman pushed past Felix, grabbed Kendall by her right shoulder and tugged her close before giving her a hard shake. "How did they find us?!" he snarled again.

"Christ James calm down," Felix protested with a slight look of alarm.

James shook his head as he released Kendall. He raised his gun this time and pressed it hard against her brow. "Felix we are in the middle of nowhere, how did they find us?" he demanded. "Did you lead us into an ambush?"

"If I wanted to do that I would have asked them to bring something better than guns," Kendall answered coolly as she gave James a frosty stare. "Why would I do that anyway?"

"Because you're working for Trevino!" James snapped. "Because you're scared of him because you don't want to help us because you have a grudge, don't you Kendall?"

Kendall arched her left eyebrow at this and crossed her arms, brazen against the threat of the gun. "Why should I have a grudge against you?" she quipped icily. "What did you do to me James Bond?"

James flinched at the personal emphasis on the question. Could that really be it? Could she know? Was he being paranoid? He decided it was better blurting it out regardless, it had weighed on him too heavily for too long. "Because I got your sister killed," he admitted.

Celestine looked appropriately surprised whilst Felix just shook his head in dismay. Kendall nodded back quickly, blinking hard as she tried to banish the tears that came with his words.

"You finally admit it," she grumbled.

"And you already knew it," James realised. He grabbed her again by her shoulder and pushed her hard to her knees. "Enough games Kendall, what the hell are we doing out here? What happens next? You lead us round the corner to the second ambush? You lose us in the mountains? What?" He pressed the gun harder against her. He knew it was wrong, every fibre in him was against it, he didn't want to hurt the girl but damn it if he was right and she had betrayed them then he would shoot her dead. Expecting her to aid them had always been a risk, surely M and MI6 were entertaining the possibility that she would be a traitor, M had as good as said it.

"James enough!" Celestine ordered sharply. "She is scarred by that man, she is not working for him! Those men must have followed us! Look I'm calling an end to today, we're going back down and we'll discuss our tactics in the town."

"She's working for him Celestine," James said confidently.

"She's not and she's our only tie to him, our only chance to get him and I am not going to let you ruin that because you have some personal link to her!" the French woman retorted crossly. "Now come on, we need new ammunition and something more powerful in case we meet something worse in these mountains. Let's go back."

"James she's right," Felix remarked. He took a step up to his friend and gave him a tranquil stare. "Kendall is our only lead to Trevino, without her we won't be able to surprise him or find his headquarters. Let her go."

James sighed angrily before he finally withdrew his gun. "I don't trust you," he warned her.

"I've never trusted you," she retorted hotly. She pushed herself back to her feet. "Course you're going to have to trust me if you want down off this mountain," she added smugly.

James shook his head at her and tugged out his phone. "There's a tracker in this, I've had Q mark out the trail from the moment we left." He hit a few buttons on the phone and brought up a map on the screen with a red line on it. "I know exactly how to retrace our steps."

"Well full brownie points to you," Kendall answered sarcastically.

* * *

It was late afternoon when the four made it back to Santa Marta. They had debated about moving from the La Dama De La Luna for security purposes but Celestine and James had both concurred that Trevino obviously knew they were in town and they were unlikely to escape his eye now so there was little point in it.

They retired to their rooms in a muted silence, Felix getting James to grudgingly agree to a dinner in the town if only because they needed to converse outside the hotel away from potentially corrupt staff.

In their room James and Celestine had another heated argument about Kendall.

"James she is a victim," Celestine protested.

"Or a damn good actress," James countered. "Maybe he hurt her on purpose to make it look like she was a victim."

Celestine rolled her eyes at this. "James you're being ridiculous and what is this about her sister?" She narrowed her gaze at him accusingly. "What do you mean you got her killed?"

Hurt filled James' dark cerulean gaze at this and he exhaled heavily before pacing about the room. "I need a drink," he grumbled.

"Then order one," Celestine snapped at him crossly, "I'm going to get a shower."

James looked at her in a muted protest and swallowed hard. "Her name was Paris," he confessed, "Paris Carver, wife to Elliot Carver."

"The man who almost caused a war between China and the UK?" She gave a faint smile at James' look of surprise. "We had an eye on him in France, the man was a megalomaniac."

James nodded wearily. "Paris and I had a past, we dated for a few months."

"I see where this going," Celestine interrupted softly. "You saw her as an opportunity to get to Carver and it got her killed."

"It was a little more complicated but yes," James admitted heavily. "Carver had it reported as a suicide and I couldn't see that countered without blowing my operation. Then when Carver was defeated MI6 wanted to mute the whole thing so Paris' murder never came out." He shook his head sorrowfully.

"Did you love her?" Celestine pried.

"No," he admitted, "and I suppose I hate myself a little for that, that she died to help me and I didn't even love her."

"You did what you had to do," Celestine remarked with a forgiving look. "I understand you know. I seduced a young security guard in Bolivia to get close to a dangerous general, he ended up being tortured for a very long time before he was killed." She stiffened slightly and added calmly, "if I hadn't exploited him and his attraction to me I would have never gotten to the general however. The means was worth the end and since you stopped Elliot Carver I must assume the same for you and Paris."

James frowned even as he nodded. It made him like Celestine more to hear her understand his actions with Paris and justify them but he couldn't quite bring himself to agree with her. Treating people like pawns could never be right even if was to stop someone dangerous. If he hadn't come back into Paris' life she might have gotten killed anyway, given her husband she most likely would have but that thought didn't lessen James' guilt either because it was only a possibility not a proven fact. The only thing he knew for certain was that he had gotten her killed and that she wasn't the first woman he had done that to, not the second or third or even the fourth, there were too many of them now. He wondered dully if Kendall was set to be another, hell hadn't he been ready just hours ago to blow her away and add her to that list himself? The women James Bond had betrayed and failed.

He tensed when Celestine pressed her left hand close to his cheek. His gaze locked with hers and he saw only tranquillity there. His news hadn't shocked or horrified her, she was in the cloak and dagger business of spy, she knew all about betrayal just being another task in his employment, it was the same for her after all. He leaned down slightly and pressed his lips against hers. Maybe she was the only kind of woman who could understand him and not complicate it. She wouldn't cry for him when he left in the night, she wouldn't have to wonder where he had gone or puzzle over his lies, he would never have to lie to her.

His hands crept up to the front of her dirt stained shirt and he began to tug at the buttons. Damn he needed this, a distraction yes but also something he understood and something he could enjoy. He banished Kendall and her complications to the back of his mind and when Celestine stepped back from him to tug off her shirt his mind was finally focused on one thing only.

Felix hovered outside the ajar bathroom door with unease. He could hear that woeful keening noise again but Kendall wasn't asleep this time, it wasn't a night terror, she was wide awake and moaning like an animal that knew it was trapped. He feared intruding, he didn't know what he would encounter or how he would deal with it. He imagined bitingly that any woman other than Kendall and James would know what to do. He would go in all sympathetic facade with a shoulder to cry on all whilst seizing the opportunity to catch a woman in the nude and earn something in return for his comfort. Christ it wouldn't even be hard if the woman was already exposed and vulnerable just waiting for James to come in with open arms and pull her into a warm embrace. Wasn't that how it always happened?

Felix shook his head. He didn't want to think of Kendall that way but now the thought was in his head, Kendall naked and damp in the bathtub, barely concealed beneath some discreetly placed foam. Her lightly bronzed breasts glistening in iridescent bubbles and her dark hair curling about her sharp cheeks, brushing against her small rosebud lips and framing those entrancing oceanic eyes that blazed with such intensity.

'Shit,' he thought suddenly. When had it happened? He hadn't looked twice at her in that dress last night until she'd purposely spoiled it rolling off a bannister and letting it bundle about her waist to expose her pale honey legs. Why did she look better in a chaotic fashion?

He moved away from the door, alarmed by his thoughts, and paced quickly to the balcony doors. He pushed them open and hastened outside, cigarette already out and in hand. Catching the glare of the afternoon sun he slipped on his shades before lighting his cigarette and taking a deep, grateful puff.

"Nice evening isn't it?"

Felix glanced carefully out of the corner of his eye at the balcony to his right, taking care to hide the fact that he had actually been surprised by the voice.

Celestine was sitting facing the edge of the balcony, one nude leg crossed over the other. She was only wearing a towel, soft and white like a dove it was bound tightly about her, tucked in above the breasts and ending neatly halfway between her hips and knees. Her hair was unbound, damp and straight as it dried under the burning afternoon sun which shone an orange light upon it. The balcony table was to her left and enough behind her that Felix could see her legs and the pearl pink nails of her feet but still close enough that she could reach the gun and phone upon it without trouble.

Felix nodded at last. "It's a nice view," he murmured before deliberately turning his shaded gaze forwards to the ocean.

"How is Kendall?" Celestine queried.

Felix glanced back at Celestine and smiled. "I've no idea," he answered brightly.

"Do you trust her?" Celestine pried.

"If I didn't I wouldn't be following her up a mountain," Felix murmured.

Celestine nodded agreeably. "I agree and I think I've persuaded James to that mindset. Besides, we've asked her to trust us all this way. I think Trevino's men have been on us since they raided your hotel room, they must have followed us up there somehow."

"Must have," Felix mused. He took another deep draught on his cigarette.

"What do you think we should do then?"

Felix looked at her in surprise. It had been a while since either she or James had bothered to ask for his insight. "Go in to town, have dinner and sleep," he answered happily. "Check with base about how they want us to pursue and then probably proceed back up that bloody mountain in the morning, early, under the cover of darkness. We'll need better ammunition."

"James spoke to his Q branch, they've sent him details of a nearby place that might provide that service."

"People in debt to MI6 in South America, dangerous," Felix scorned mockingly.

Celestine's smile widened. "You always keep your sense of humour don't you? James is so cold and you're so...warm." Her gaze turned beguiling at this.

Felix turned fully to face her, leaning across the railing that separated them. "Warm?" he echoed. "I don't think I've been called warm before."

Celestine stood up from her chair and nodded confidently as she took a step towards him. "Warm," she repeated. "I don't know how you manage it, James and I are both like ice inside, we cut ourselves off from the world so we don't feel when we have to kill, when we have to hurt those closest to us. Have you never had to do that Felix?"

Felix frowned in answer. "I have but I don't think it's the kind of conversation for a summer's evening."

Celestine leaned a little closer so that their lips were almost touching. "What's it like to be warm Felix? I've forgotten."

He kissed her, swiftly before he could help it, thinking bitterly that James would only cast her aside anyway like all the others. He was convinced that he deserved his moment of distraction from all this mess just as much as James did. Then he felt a prickle of self-loathing for betraying his friend so easily and he caught a flash of turquoise eyes. Bright and liquid like a tropical summer sea, they were warm, they were fiery and burned with such intensity Felix thought he might get scorched by their gaze one day. He was certain James bore burn marks from it.

Felix drew back from Celestine and gave her a sardonic smile. "There now, don't forget again," he quipped sarcastically. He turned from her, stubbed out the cigarette and abandoned it to the table before heading back into the apartment.

Kendall was in another dress, this one a pale violet-blue with a silver trim. She was seated at the vanity mirror running a solution through her damp curls to style it. She was sitting stiff and rigid and looking as uncomfortable as ever.

Felix watched her coolly wondering if Celestine was right and the men had simply followed them to the mountains or if James was right and Kendall had led them into a trap. He wondered when she could have possibly found the time to do it, they had always been watching her, had she sneaked a call from the hotel when he had been on the balcony last night thinking her taking an unusually long bath? He dismissed the thought, it wasn't fair of him or James, she had more reason to distrust them than they had to distrust her and if James truly believed his fears of her he would have already phoned M and ended the mission.

* * *

It was seven in the evening when they reached the town. It was humming of course, full of traffic, tourists and locals. It consisted of closely built buildings and numerous tower blocks with lights that stretched out to illuminate the black ocean putting the palm trees in an electric glow and turning the sand a ghoulish grey. They were many narrow streets overrun with tables and chairs clustered outside bars, restaurants and cafes that seemed to bleed into each other with lights strung up on thick black wires between them. James wavered these as too close together in favour of one with more space around it and a view of the beach front.

The chosen restaurant was near a wide path that cut through neatly cut grass and trimmed bushes with benches, lamp posts and palm trees on either side. It was brightly lit taking away the chance of anyone lingering in the bushes unseen. Satisfied, James got them a table at the restaurant, which was styled with a Caribbean theme and built like a beach hut with a wide outdoors patio section, which they occupied.

James and Kendall sat opposite each other at the wooden balcony edge of the property looking out at the beach whilst Felix and Celestine sat opposing each other closer to the restaurant.

"Date night number two Mr. du Montes," Celestine jested, "you spoil me."

James offered her a smile. "I'm hopeful you'll return the favour darling."

Celestine turned her bright smile on Felix. "How are you finding married life Mr Young?"

Felix leaned back in his chair and glanced in Kendall's direction. "It's never dull," he mused.

They ordered food and drinks. This time Kendall was quick to join in with the drinking, devouring numerous glasses of vodka barely softened with orange juice. She wavered the chance at a starter, picked a plain meal and scarcely savoured it.

Finished with their meal they stayed for a couple more drinks whilst Felix and James smoked into the night. At last Celestine suggested they take their discussion to a nearby bar.

Kendall gave the French woman an ugly stare before remarking calmly, "can I walk off my food first?"

James gave her an accusing glower across the table.

"You can come with me if you have to," Kendall growled at him, "you know, so I don't run off in the night to arrange an ambush."

"Now," Felix intruded, "it wouldn't be proper to have you escorted by someone else's husband." He glanced briskly at Celestine but she seemed ignorant to the implied jibe. "I'll walk with you." He stood up. "We'll see you at the bar in a few minutes," he assured James.

James nodded as Kendall stood.

Kendall led the way down to the beach and was quick to kick off her shoes once they reached the sand. She glanced back at Felix with a wilful glint in her gaze.

"No," Felix chided with a shake of his head.

Kendall ignored him and took off running towards the sea abandoning her shoes where they lay.

Felix knew he had two choices, let her run and hope she'd come back or follow and look like an idiot or, much worse, a potential assailant. He sighed and started to run.

Kendall reached the edge of the ocean and its low, quiet tide and entered with a splash and a giggle.

Felix watched aghast as she headed on until the water was up to her knees and kept going. "Kendall!" he protested.

She swam in the water with several giggles before exhaling loudly. "God it's good just to seize a moment. I could be dead tomorrow, I'd rather die knowing I did this you know. Jesus I could be dead Felix."

He heard her voice break slightly and he tensed at her words. "You could," he called back, "we all could but equally we could still be living. Come on back now."

"This is living Felix, come in."

"No."

Kendall laughed again. "Alright," she relented, "if only because I suspect you'll have James drag me out otherwise." She paddled back slowly, giving off several pants as she did. She stepped out with a tired smile, her dress drenched and clinging to her like a second skin.

Felix's eyes darted up and down her and he tensed as he glimpsed her nipples pressed hard against the pale cloth. "Can't take you anywhere can I?" he chided teasingly.

"Can you take me up a mountain again?" she queried innocently.

He nodded calmly. "I should think so. Suppose I should give my jacket up to you now even though it's your fault you're soaked, terribly selfish of you, you know. Here I am finally wearing a jacket to impress everyone and I have to surrender it to you."

"You don't have to, we're a modern couple, remember? You do something traditional like that and you'll ruin it."

Felix's smile widened. "Alright, so I leave you drenched and just endure the accusing glowers?"

Kendall shrugged. "Sure, it's a warm night anyway, I'll be fine."

Felix shook his head and tugged off his pale cream jacket anyway. "Let me play the chivalrous gentleman for a change."

"Are you trying to be James?" Kendall remarked tauntingly even as she accepted the jacket. She slipped the jacket on and gave Felix a serious stare. "Because you're not him and I'm glad for that. I'm glad you're not a CIA robot either, I've wanted to hate you, you know because your agency betrayed me but I can't."

"Well I'm relieved," he answered teasingly.

She looked troubled for a moment and turned away from him.

Felix's hand was out and turning her head back before he even thought about it. His grey gaze scanned hers as he tried to figure out the reason for her stare. "I keep catching glimpses of you when you're happy," he mused, "and you look different then."

"Different how?" she queried with a smile.

"Appealing," he admitted. He leaned down and kissed her.

Kendall responded to the gesture, slipping her arms under his to pull him close by his shirt. When he pushed her down on the sand she let him, little caring when the sand mingled with her damp hair. She raised her hands to burrow them in his blonde curls holding his head down to hers.

Felix kept himself upright with his left hand taking the weight whilst his right hand moved to slip up under her damp dress. He knew it was going to cost him, that James and Celestine were probably going to pounce upon them and embarrass the hell of him. He knew he should stop, that it was a bad, bad idea but Kendall wasn't exactly protesting.

Her moans egged him on and he reached for his trousers, unbuttoning them and sliding them down. His gun went with them, careless but it wasn't enough to give him pause. A moment of craziness, a moment of living, hadn't he earned it?

"I seen your smile in the bathroom," she whispered in his ear. "Thanks."


	7. Chapter 7- Meeting a Villain

They had delayed a day. A day too long for James' liking. He had checked in with M and MI6 but had failed to share his initial suspicions of Kendall. He had wanted to and almost had before realising that his motivation was no longer suspicion of the girl but petty anger. When she and Felix had stumbled up from the beach both tousle haired, damp and smiling through their eyes James had known instantly what had happened between them. A quick closer inspection had confirmed it. Felix had missed a button in his trousers, Kendall's dress was riding up on her upper left thigh to the point that her buttocks would have been partially exposed if not for Felix's jacket, Felix had a telltale red mark budding on the right side of his neck and there was a sweet odour of sweat and sex about mingled with the salt. It was a stench James knew well.

James had dealt with the situation in a bitter facade of calmness though he had wanted to call them both out and scorn them for their recklessness and for treating this mission as a romantic vacation. He had restrained himself knowing he was being hypocritical but it had been difficult. Celestine had simply ignored the obviousness save for a slight iciness in her gaze for Felix. They had concluded their evening at the bar swiftly before returning to the hotel for another debate.

Celestine had queried an alternative route to Trevino's base, adamant that there must be one. She had pointed out that he had to use transport for his drugs so there must be roads. Kendall had scorned the French woman and admitted that 'of course there was' but they came with four checkpoints and only went so far up into the mountain range before their occupants had to swap over to horses, mules and feet. Kendall insisted they could not beat the checkpoints and if they could they would only arouse suspicions when they had to abandon their vehicles and expose themselves. She would arouse suspicions.

Celestine had gone so far as to suggesting Kendall drew them a map out and let them go without her but Kendall had become angry at this and muttered that it would be too complicated for them to follow anyway. James had agreed though he had been reluctant too.

It had meant another day trying to get their plan together, which also involved a trip into town for better weapons from Q's contact. Celestine had made several calls to her own base as well.

Now here they were preparing to make another trip up into the mountains in the hope of finding Trevino's base and eliminating it and him. Felix had also contacted the CIA and Jack Wade hoping for some kind of aerial aid if possible. Jack hadn't guaranteed anything but made suggestions of one or two fighting aircraft if they could find the base in good time and secure enough to ensure that whatever he sent wasn't blown straight out of the sky.

Together they had planned out the start of their route. At Celestine's insistence and with James agreeing Kendall had grudgingly found an easier travelled road to start with. They would begin their journey in the town and head in a car as far as they could but they wouldn't go up a road that involved a checkpoint.

It was cool and a dark sapphire blue outside, just an hour before sun up. Felix and James were standing on Felix's balcony staring out at the beach whilst waiting for Kendall and Celestine to finish getting ready. Kendall was in the living area, maps stretched out on the coffee table as she went over them one last time with a determined expression whilst Celestine was still next door securing weapons upon her person.

James looked at Felix out of the corner of his eye wanting to breach the subject of him and Kendall though he knew it was hardly the time.

Sensing his friend's scornful blue gaze upon him prompted Felix to remark calmly, "do you really care James? You and Celestine are sharing the sheets and you never made eyes at Kendall."

James regarded Felix with an icy calm though the Texan's bluntness had caught him off guard. "She could be compromised Felix we don't know that she's not."

Felix sighed as he leaned over the railings. "Is that the best argument you can make James? Come on, you always live and love for the moment, why shouldn't I? I know for a fact you've bedded women working for the other side and sometimes you've even known it before hand. Not that I think Kendall is." He paused, thinking of the scars at her back that his hand had inadvertently brushed against or the burn marks on her arms he had kissed or the healed but permanently changed bone in her arm he had felt a bump on.

James didn't know what to say. That he felt Felix had too much of a boyish side and might be too careless with his judgement, that he let his guard down too often? That when James bedded the dangerous women he never forgot his seriousness, that his coldness stayed despite his feigned charm and that if he had to he could still put a bullet through someone even after bedding them. "Could you kill her if you had to?" James pried.

Felix tensed and gave James an unpleasant stare. "I get it, you and that French woman think I'm all heart, too warm compared to you, the nice, foolish American who doesn't have the guts to pull the trigger. Well damn it James I do and I can and if I have to I will. If she is bad and she's stringing us along into Trevino's clutches then yes, I will put a bullet into her skull and splatter her brains on the wall. So don't worry, I'll have my gun out before you will."

Felix turned from the balcony rail to face James fully, his grey eyes taut with accusation. "Can you kill her James? Isn't that the real problem, that every time you look at her you're reminded of a woman you failed and you don't want another one to the list? That you're made of ice but the cracks are showing and you're afraid the next one is going to shatter you."

"Maybe," James admitted quietly. "Alright Felix, I'm sorry for the implication." He turned back to the closed balcony doors and looked in at Kendall. She was still looking at her maps oblivious to the conversation.

As James opened the balcony doors there came a soft knock from the main door.

"Are we ready to go?" Celestine's voice called.

"Yes," James answered. He walked past Kendall without a second stare and opened the door to Celestine.

* * *

They made it into the town for the dawn and set to work getting a car. As they walked down the still quiet streets inspecting vehicles Kendall matched pace with James to his surprise. "What was Paris like with you?" she queried in a low voice.

James looked down at her in disbelief and tensed a little. "Is this really the time?"

"If we get killed there might not be another time," she answered carelessly.

James frowned at this. "What does it matter?" he queried coldly.

"You were one of the last people to see her alive," she reminded him heatedly.

"Do you the details about that?" he demanded. "How she died?"

"I know you used her to get to Elliot and she was murdered for it. You got her killed," she answered, her voice turning brittle as she did.

James tried to read her expression but he couldn't as she was looking ahead. "And how do you know?" he pondered aloud. He had been wondering about it since her confession, supposing there had been a leak within the family though he couldn't think who or why the leak hadn't been made public.

"Him," she answered, "Trevino," she voiced his name with an obvious reluctance. Feeling James' curious stare upon her she continued on. "At first he tried to intimidate me to his cause using threats, violence and terror tactics. I gave into the pain and gave him a little of what he wanted but I wouldn't give him everything, I couldn't do that. Then he asked why I would defend people and countries that had betrayed me, that had used my family, let my sister die and left me to rot. He must have feared or known that someone was going to try and take me from his clutches. He thought he could manipulate me to his side by telling me that MI6 caused my sister's death and the CIA let me get kidnapped by him."

Kendall's throat had turned dry prompting her to swallow hard. Felix and Celestine kept looking back at them curiously. They looked like a good pair, their blonde hair gold and shimmering beneath the rising sun, their eyes bright and alert, bodies taut and waiting to spring into action. James and Kendall stood together in the shadows, misery clinging to their gazes and depression hugging their demeanour. Neither slouched or bowed their head and yet their appearance had an aura of sluggishness to it anyway. They looked defeated whilst Felix and Celestine looked ready to fight.

Kendall clenched her fists slightly to suppress a tremble in her hands before she continued on. "I knew Paris didn't commit suicide, she was depressed in her marriage but she was tough, she would never do it." She looked up at James accusingly. "I thought when I mentioned it before that you might have rebuffed it then. I've spent a long time waiting on your confession. I didn't believe...him. I wanted proof and he got it somehow. Video footage of you and Paris at a party Elliot was hosting and a copy of Elliot's order to an assassin to kill Paris. He said you moved on with a Chinese spy and never looked back."

James bristled at the accusation and wondered how in the hell Trevino how come by this information. Was it his CIA spy? Busy little bastard. "What do you want me to say?" he queried coldly. "That I'm sorry? Because I am Kendall, I told Paris not to help but she insisted, I offered to get her out of the country but she refused."

"I just want to understand," Kendall murmured, "how you could knowingly use her to exploit such a dangerous mind and then let her die like that. I want to know if she had any happiness with you at all before she died, if it was worth it, if there was even a glimmer of it because she had none with Elliot, she deserved some even if it was with yet another man who felt nothing for her."

James sighed. "I reacquainted myself with Paris at Elliot's party so I could get information that might help me stop Elliot, that is true. Elliot caught on to me and I expected him to send someone but I didn't realise it would be Paris. She wanted to come and yes, we spent the evening together and then she went back to him of her own volition. I didn't love her Kendall and I wouldn't take back using her as I did, it got me what I needed but I do wish she had let me get her out of the country."

"He would have found her," Kendall retorted wistfully.

"Do you hate me?" James queried bluntly. "I notice you've stopped hating Felix," he added snidely.

Kendall gave a faint smile as her gaze flickered ahead to Felix. The Texan kept glancing over his shoulder at her with worry. He and Celestine had stopped now and she was procuring a car for them.

"I hate you, of course I do, what you did to my sister was terrible, you and your organisation, I hate them too and the CIA. But ask your real question, do you think I'll betray you for my hate? The answer is no because it's not about you or me, it's about all those other people he...Trevino's hurt and will hurt. I won't sacrifice them for hatred."

James realised that annoyed as he was he believed Kendall. "Alright." He looked ahead and caught Celestine's impatient stare. He hastened forward, adamant that he was driving but Celestine took the driver's seat before he could

Kendall took the front passenger seat so she could direct better leaving Felix and James in the back.

"I should drive," James grumbled.

"You should have got to the car quicker," Celestine retorted teasingly. She smiled in the rearview mirror at James and Felix. "Bad women drivers is a cruel stereotype, as I'll demonstrate."

Celestine eased the car out slowly and away from its original home in a car lot with ease. It was a dark green Alfa Romeo Spider with an optional sunroof, probably ideal for scenic driving around wide mountain roads but not necessarily good for the rougher mountain paths. James kept the roof up as they drove despite how warm it got.

They drove for three hours in almost silence as James had forbidden Kendall from turning the radio on. They were into the mountain range now and it had been thirty minutes since they had last seen a sign. They were on a narrow bumpy road that was less travelled and Kendall had warned they would need to get out soon.

It happened without warning. There was a loud bang as the tyres blew out and the car suddenly skidded. Kendall let out a curse as Celestine fought with the wheel and brakes as the car spun out of control. The wheels had burst.

James reached for his gun as he stared out the windows for an assailant quickly processing that a trap had been laid as the tyres could not have blown out simultaneously like that.

The right side of the car smacked hard into a tree before it came to a halt. Felix banged his head hard off the door with the blow and slumped against it with a groan as blood slowly bloomed from the side of his skull. Kendall's door was dented inwards but she was only mildly bruised. Her ears were ringing and she felt nauseous as she felt herself still spinning despite the fact that the car had halted. Celestine and James were both out with their guns drawn.

Felix tried to look but his vision was blurring and he was struggling for consciousness. He blinked slowly. Blackness. Kendall twisting her head about in confusion and alarm. He tried to turn to follow her gaze. Blink. James falling to the ground. No that wasn't right, it couldn't be right. Shit was that Celestine behind him? Blink. He could hear screaming but the sound was muffled beneath a loud ringing in his head. He turned his attention back to Kendall. Blink. She was being dragged from the car across the front seats. She was wide eyed, looking terrified and screaming as her nails raked down the leather. Blink. Darkness.

* * *

James awoke and was amazed to awaken at all. When the pain in his headache came, sharp and throbbing, he regretted the thought and considered that oblivion might have been preferable. He started to assess his situation, he had been handcuffed to a heavy chair which was facing a raised, small glass window that looked into another room approximately ten feet away. The gap between the rooms he couldn't determine the purpose of, it was brightly lit with fluorescent lighting above and the walls were steel panelling. He saw a metal hook dangling down in front of a steel panel of the wall and knew it had to have a sinister purpose.

The room James occupied at the moment had several computers, CCTV panels, colourful buttons and an intercom system. He realised he had to be in a controls room of some description.

"Welcome Mr. Bond."

A man was now standing before James and staring down at him with a crocodile smile. He had hair that gleamed black like oil, it was thick, too short to be curly though it coiled at the edges, stray strands wrapping around the edges of his neck and the bottom of his ears. There were small streaks of silvery grey matching flecks in his dark stubble, they and the wrinkles in his brow hinted at his age pushing him over forty. He was six feet tall and swarthy skinned with crow's feet at his pale topaz brown eyes and bushy eyebrows above them. His eyebrows were a brown lighter than his hair and matched the colour of his moustache. He was wearing a brown suit, pale grey shirt, no tie and polished brown shoes.

James knew from previous photographs exactly who was looking at. "Mr. Trevino, pleasure to meet you at last," he retorted cheerfully.

Emmanuel's smile curled up slightly and his eyes gleamed with distaste. "I cannot return the sentiment, for me it is an inconvenience."

James glanced about the room again, there were a couple of men busy at the computers and two heavies at the only door but no sign of Felix, Kendall or Celestine. "Where's the girl?" James quipped.

"The lovely French woman? She is fine," Emmanuel assured.

"Not her," James dismissed gruffly, "I know that bitch is fine. What have you done with Kendall?"

He felt a fresh pang from his skull and knew Celestine had been the cause. She had been standing behind him when he had looked about for enemies, foolishly trusting her at his back for the precious thirty seconds it had taken her to knock him out cold.

"Ah mi estrella de la suerte," Emmanuel mused with a look of fondness. "I've missed her. She is currently learning a lesson for her betrayal. You mustn't concern yourself with her. Aren't you worried about your other friend? Your CIA partner?"

"I know he can handle himself," James answered confidently.

Emmanuel's smile widened at this. "So confident, just as I'd been informed."

James began wondering about Celestine's role in this, he couldn't figure out a motive- money, fear, something else? "There was never a CIA informant was there?" he queried icily.

Emmanuel shook his head. "No but I thought it made a pretty story for Kendall. I would have never let her go if I had thought she didn't believe me."

James' cerulean gaze widened before he could help it. "Let her go?" he echoed. He tested his bonds loosely, they were tight but he had his watch on, a few tweaks and the laser in it could cut through the steel. Conscious of the two men at the doors watching him he resisted the urge to hit the button on the watch now.

Emmanuel nodded. "You and your friend, so cocky, if either of you had properly done your research on me you would know I would never let such a valuable asset be taken from me unintentionally. For months she worked with me willingly and voiced her hatred of MI6 and the CIA and a desire for revenge upon them. I thought her broken and I believed my manipulations on her had worked."

"What makes you so sure they didn't?" James demanded. "She was leading us to you."

"She was trying to sneak you up here for an ambush using routes she hadn't revealed to me," Emmanuel retorted heatedly. He narrowed his pale brown eyes. "She was meant to keep you in Veracruz, delay you so you could be taken."

"Taken?" James echoed. "You had your men trying to kill us!"

"To wound you merely," Emmanuel answered in a smooth voice, "and convince you that Kendall's fleeing from me was sincere. Celestine suspected a treachery so she staged a rescue. Realising that mi estrella de la suerte was going to attempt thwarting me I came up with a new plan, a better one and I told Celestine to let you come here, to help you here."

James bristled. All this time he had been expecting a betrayal he had just been looking at the wrong person. "Not that I'm ungrateful but why am I still alive?" James queried curiously.

"Because I must be careful how you are killed Mr. Bond or it could upset my plan."

"Which is?" James pressed for information in an effort to stall for time. He needed to collect his thoughts, where were Kendall and Felix? Did Felix have a means of escape? He certainly didn't have a laser watch, of that Bond was certain but he couldn't underestimate the Texan either.

"Two corrupt agents, one from MI6 and one from CIA, both secretly doing drug deals with a South American drug lord for money. An international disgrace to send shockwaves throughout the world. All those investigators who will have to be double checked, all that evidence that will have to be cross-examined, there will be no faith in the system anymore making it a little easier for me to conduct my trade."

James shook his head with a scornful smile. "No one will believe that," he sneered.

"They will if the agents are caught in the act by the French intelligence spy who was working alongside them, a woman with no reason to lie and evidence to support her tragic accusations."

James sighed heavily. "Is that what she gets out this, glory and a promotion?"

Emmanuel gave a smug nod. "And money too of course. It's really quite simple, I knew you were coming, Kendall was the bait and my lovely Celestine was the trap. At first I considered killing you but I realised it would only make martyrs of you and strengthen the efforts against me so I came up with a new plan. It's as well I didn't reveal it to Kendall or you would have known better than to come here." There was a buzzing sound from the left and Emmanuel moved towards it. He pressed a button down on an intercom system.

"I don't think she's anymore to say boss," a voice called out.

"Then bring her up and start the show," Emmanuel answered.

* * *

Felix awoke in a similar state to James, chained up to a chair with his head splitting. The room he was in was dark save for a single dim naked light bulb directly above him and a sliver of light coming through a narrow window to the left at the top of a steel wall. There was a screen in the wall opposite him, currently off, an intercom system beside it, a small slitted window to the left of it and a door to the left of that. He glanced about the room and stiffened when he was faced with its only other occupant.

"Awake at last," Celestine greeted brightly. She stood with her arms crossed, dressed in a black, knee length shirt, black high heels and a neatly tucked in white shirt. She looked far from a woman who'd been in a car crash.

"Indeed, ready to cut me loose and tell me this is all part of a ruse?" Felix quipped cheerfully.

Celestine smiled at him and shook her head. "I gave you a chance Felix, I asked you for that wonderful warmth of yours but you denied me and gave it to her instead. Tres insultant. We only needed one of you and I was quite willing to have it be James and let you go. James is cold and heartless like me, he deserves his fate. I might not have minded rejection so much if it hadn't been for her. I am better than her. That all being said, insulted as I am I shall be gracious and let you see her fate since you have such an interest in her."

Celestine stepped up to the screen and switched it on.

Felix watched in horror as an image of Kendall appeared, tied up, gagged, bruised and beaten as two men sneered down at her. He tensed in his bonds as they injected her with something and started questioning her.

It went on for a few minutes, they kept injecting her and asking her things about directions and locations. When she declined to answer or gave them an answer they didn't like she got a slap or punch in response.

Felix fiddled with his bonds as he watched. He could feel the lock and knew with some difficult manoeuvring and twisting he might be able to slip out the lockpick concealed in his right sleeve and free it. It was a big might but it was all he had. He tensed as he watched Kendall's suffering and hoped she could just hang on until he got there.

Tired of her lack of co-operation despite being drugged and wounded, the men decided to change tactic.

Felix froze up, forgetting his intentions for a moment as one man suddenly leaned down and reached for Kendall's trousers. It didn't take much to get them off. Felix felt sick when he heard her whimper as the second man reached for his own trousers.

"Jesus Celestine stop this!" he snapped.

Celestine turned back to him with a vicious grin. "Don't worry," she sneered, "she won't feel a thing with those drugs and you did a good job loosening her up I'm sure." She turned back to the screen to watch the show.

Felix moved fast driven by an unexpected rush of rage. The lockpick slotted into place with a lucky ease and with a few grunts, low enough to be inaudible over Kendall's protests, Felix clicked the lock free.

Celestine had no time to react. Felix snatched her gun from her back pocket and had the safety off and the nozzle pressed against her skull before she could even attempt turning to face him. With the gun he slammed her face hard against the screen. "Make it stop now," he snarled, "or I will colour the walls with your brains."

Celestine tensed as the metal nozzle was pressed hard into her skull. "They'll come the moment you do," she warned him.

"You'll still be dead," he promised.

Celestine muttered a curse in French that became loud and shrill when Felix smacked her impatiently with the side of the gun. She shrank back from the blow with a shriek of pain but his right hand was soon upon her face and holding it in place so the gun could be pressed against her head again.

"Make them stop," Felix ordered in a low, cold voice.

The second man was grunting now, steady and in time with each thrust he gave. There was a redness at the edge of Felix's vision as his headache worsened and his rage grew with each noise that came from the screen.

"Alright!" Celestine cried out. She fumbled with the button for the intercom system, unable to see as Felix had the left side of her face pressed up against the glass of the screen. She finally hit a button and called out. "Mr. Rogues please stop what you are doing and advise Mr. Trevino the girl has no more to say."

Felix frowned at Celestine's choice of words. He yanked her back to stare at the screen, one of the men was looking up at the camera crossly.

"We can make her talk!" a voice called back gruffly through the intercom. "And I'm enjoying this."

Felix pressed the gun against Celestine warningly. "I have no other reason to let you live," he reminded her quietly.

Celestine swallowed hard before turning her attention back to the intercom system. "Mr. Rogues that is an order, we are wasting time!"

"Alright," the voice answered gruffly.

The intercom clicked off.

Felix watched the screen impatiently as the man pressed another button on the intercom system. His voice came out over the screen. " I don't think she's anymore to say boss."

"Then bring her up and start the show," Emmanuel's voice called back.

"What the hell does that mean?" Felix snarled at Celestine. He watched in disgust as one man sloppily pulled Kendall's underwear up and planted a kiss on her brow. The two men then roused the wounded and drugged Kendall to her feet and dragged her from the room.

Celestine gave Felix a fierce smile. "Do you really think they will just let her go? Felix this building is full of Trevino's men, you haven't a chance. All you can do is watch the show."

Felix shook his head angrily. "Where's James?"

Celestine nodded in the direction of the slitted window to the left. "Across there."

Felix looked to the window but it was too high for him to see anything out of it. "And where is Kendall going?" he demanded.

Celestine nodded to the other window this time and the door beside it. "You'll see very soon," she assured. "I'll even give you time to look before I get them here to blow you to bits."


	8. Chapter 8- Hook, Line and Sink Her

James looked on with a purposely emotionless expression as he finally learned what the hook was for. One of the metal panes in the wall behind the hook had slid up to reveal a walkway which three people were coming up. Two of them were tall, muscular men who dragged out a worse for wear Kendall between them. She was bruised and bloodied, her shirt hung open exposing her black bra and she was missing her trousers leaving her clad from the waist down in just a pair of silk, black briefs. She was almost limp between them, her head bobbing about uneasily as she barely struggled. When she reached the edge of the platform that changed.

Whatever dwelled below in the space between James' room and Kendall's had the girl shrieking in terror. James watched curiously as she started to fight against her captors. Her legs kicked out in a crazed fashion to no avail.

Trevino frowned through the large, glass pane at her. "She will be a loss," he said sorrowfully. He turned his attention to a control panel on his left.

James watched as Trevino operated a small set of buttons that sent the hook moving back along a track the chain was secured to, reaching the platform Kendall stood at. One of the thugs reached out to it, grabbing it and pulling it back.

"No please!" Kendall stammered as her feet scraped along the metal floor and tears soaked her cheeks.

Trevino shook his head woefully.

James glanced over his shoulder at the two guards behind him, their gazes had brightened in anticipation and kept darting from him to Kendall. They were starting to get distracted by her. James' attention darted back to her too. Her hands were bound together with rope which had now been fastened over the hook so that she would be dangling from it precariously.

She tried to move back against her guards now but they were like stone, unyielding.

Trevino leaned down to a microphone and hit another button. His voice rang out through several speakers. "Push her forward, slowly now I don't want the rope on her hands to snap."

"No! NO!" Kendall broke into hysterics.

"What's down there?" James demanded. Part of his question was born out of morbid curiosity but part of it was an attempt to stall.

Trevino glanced back at him as if for a moment he had forgotten his small audience. He gave a ugly, tight lipped smile. "Death Mr. Bond, death is down there," he answered quietly. He turned back to watch Kendall.

A guard gave Kendall a light push but that was all it took, suddenly she was airborne and swinging in the air. Trevino hit another button and the hook moved out with a low grind of the chain that supported it, taking Kendall with it until she was in the centre of the gap.

"Any last revelations to make?" Trevino queried through the speaker. "You can't save yourself but perhaps I'll consider a quick death for your friends if you give me more of the labyrinth."

For a moment Kendall sobered in her sorrow and glowered in at Trevino with a fiery hate. She was silent.

James glanced over his shoulder. No one was looking his way. He hit his watch and activated the laser.

On the other side of James' temporary prison, unseen in another prison a scuffle had broken out. Felix had demanded the keys to the door from Celestine upon seeing Kendall through the narrow window but the French woman had refused. They had tussled over them momentarily until he had pushed her hard into a metal wall and she had slumped in a temporary daze. Felix had snatched the keys off her person and made a mad dash for the door. He had heard Kendall's screams. Wary of time and the foes with Kendall he abandoned Celestine and opened the door.

Celestine awoke from her painful daze as Felix opened the door. Outraged and desperate she moved to her feet, tugged out a knife from her shirt pocket and pounced for him with a cry. The knife missed, cutting a slash through Felix's shirt sleeve instead of his flesh. Felix let out a cry of surprise as Celestine's body smacked into him from behind with a fast, sloppy blow. Together they stumbled into the metal passageway drawing attention from the two thugs who had brought Kendall up.

Felix kicked back with his right foot hitting Celestine hard in the left knee causing her to draw back with a hiss of pain.

"Help me you fools!" she called to the guards.

Felix looked to them and fired Celestine's gun instantly.

BANG! One guard fell dead, dropping against the wall ungracefully as a bullet whizzed through his chest cutting a small but lethal blow through an artery.

BANG! The second shot went wild.

The second thug's eyes widened before he fumbled for a knife and threw it fast.

Felix ducked and shot again as the knife sailed over his head. BANG! The guard dropped to his knees with a stomach shot.

Celestine came at Felix from the side with her knife.

Felix raised his left arm to shove the blonde back and caught her in the chest, sending her staggering back and towards the edge of the platform. The corridor was clinically cool but he was dripping with sweat. His straw like hair was sticking to his brow now in distracting, damp, straggly strands.

The blonde Texan moved forward, purposely keeping Celestine moving to the edge.

Kendall let out a scream as the chain and the hook it supported started moving down. For a moment Felix was distracted. He looked ahead trying to spy her but all he could see was the dark chain, trembling and creaking as it moved downwards.

Felix gave a loud yell of pain as the side of a blade sliced down his left shoulder. "Shit!"

Celestine grinned at him as he moved back from the blade instinctively and she forced him to turn and step back towards the edge this time. Her baby blue eyes were icy as they watched him and he realised as he looked at them that there was nothing there- no guilt, no remorse, no hint of a conscience, she could murder him in cold blood and not blink twice.

Felix glanced over the edge, nerves and curiosity driving him to look at what Kendall was being sent down to. His grey eyes widened in unexpected horror. There was a man made strip of water down there, long, maybe six feet by twenty. The water wasn't the danger however it was the dark greyish- olive green ridges of the beasts beneath it that created ripples as they swam about it lazily. Felix had no time to process it before Celestine came for him again.

Felix heard Celestine's heels clacking noisily on the metal floor just in time and he dodged the knife. He forced her back with another kick out to her shins and turned as he did. He put his back to the passageway forcing her to turn to face him putting her own back to the edge. She raised the knife again and he raised the gun in answer.

"You won't kill me," she snarled at him confidently. "You have a conscience."

BANG!

James' hands came free with the loud gunshot that rang out from the opposing room, echoing loudly against the metal walls. James didn't bother looking for the source, he had no time, he had to take advantage of the distraction it had created.

James moved into action, flinging his chair back at the two thugs by the door. They didn't expect it. One went down with the blow whilst the other barely dodged. He struggled to get out a shot as James ran towards him and raised the watch. The laser hit the guard in the eyes hard just before it flickered out.

The man shrieked in pain as he raised his right hand to his eyes instinctively. James seized his opportunity. A crude kick to the groin sent the guard reeling to the floor. A sideways chop with James' right arm to the back of the man's neck kept him on the floor. James wasted no time in sinking down to hunt out the man's gun.

James pulled out a Beretta, clicked the safety off, turned and fired quickly as the other guard, now recovered from the chair blow, came at him with a cry.

BANG!

The guard looked surprised as blood began to pour from his chest. With a gasp he staggered down to the floor.

BANG!

Trevino's answering shot from behind barely missed James.

James turned to the drug baron with a determined look as he stood upright, gun ready and aimed.

Trevino looked back at him with equal confidence. "She won't make it," he vowed.

James's cerulean eyes flickered up and past Trevino to where Celestine stood. James recognised her soft, pallid blonde hair, currently half spilling out of a bun. She was staggering back to the edge slowly, her movements sluggish and confused. Without warning she fell backwards and down to whatever was below. As she fell Felix was revealed, smoking gun in hand and an icy look in his stormy grey stare. James realised grimly what the earlier shot meant.

"No, she won't," James answered coldly as his attention returned to Trevino.

BANG! James fired first and Trevino dodged behind a table.

Felix leaned out to look over the edge. His eyes widened again. During his struggle with Celestine Kendall's ropes had come free on the sharp edge of the hook. She was down there struggling in the water, swimming towards a thin, metal edge that jutted out from the right side. For the moment the crocodiles were distracted with Celestine's corpse but it wouldn't last.

Kendall went down under the water with a sudden scream.

Felix tucked the gun into his belt and gave in to a moment of recklessness. He ran and jumped, hands stretched out to the chain. With sheer luck finally on his side he grasped the chain successfully and slid down it with a wince and a curse as its metal exterior cut painful groves in his palms before he was able to grasp the still descending hook.

Felix looked down for Kendall. He could hear his heart thundering against his chest in alarm. Had the beasts gotten her? Was he risking life and limb in vain? He was suddenly conscious now that his own blood was dripping into the water. A terrible temptation for the reptiles below.

Kendall came up above the water with a gasp and a splutter, she had just made it to the edge. With a wince she struggled up, blood pouring from her left leg. Another crocodile was swimming in her direction. She missed her feet being snapped off by mere seconds. She stood upright, soaking wet and terrified as she leaned back against the wall in despair.

"Kendall!" Felix yelled to her.

She looked up in surprise, bloodshot eyes going wide in disbelief.

Felix looked back up from the way he had come, the chain needed to stop or they were both going to die. "JAMES!" He yelled as loudly as he could. He had seen James free and going for a man he assumed was Trevino, he knew his friend was free and their only hope right now. "JAMES!" It was an act of mad desperation but it was all Felix could do. "THE CHAIN JAMES!"

James had Trevino in his line of vision, the drug baron was weakened by a gunshot to his left leg but he was close to a door and a means of escape, all he had to do was hit the button beside the door and it would open to freedom. Choices, choices and no time. James could hear Felix dimly in the background. Did he take the shot or go for the button? Did he have time for both? It seemed like he did but he knew that was wrong. He had seconds.

Trevino hit the button.

"GOD JAMES THE CHAIN! STOP IT!"

James moved to the right and his palm slammed down hard on a button as Trevino ran for it.

The chain came to a jarring stop. Felix had to hope it was the right height but he couldn't be sure.

A crocodile reared up out of the water for Kendall, eyes gleaming and snout ready to open and snap. She kicked back as hard as she could with her right foot, putting all the force she could muster into the blow. It was enough to catch the creature off guard and send it clumsily back into the water. The splash however was loud enough to draw the attention of the others.

"Kendall you have to jump!" Felix commanded. "On three!" He started to swing the hook. He had to get the right momentum. He had to get close enough. Shit there wasn't enough time. He could feel the water churning below as the beasts caught his scent. His blood was down there, swirling in the water driving them demented with hunger. "One." He swung as hard and fast as he could. The chain jangled loudly. "Two."

A crocodile jumped as Felix swung. Its teeth snapped at air, almost catching a foot before it hit the water with an angry splash. He couldn't even imagine how in the hell the creature had propelled itself up like that.

"Three!"

Felix's left arm stretched out and down as far as he could get it.

Kendall jumped with a shriek of pain as her left leg almost refused the movement.

"Fuck!" The word escaped Felix before he could help it as both of Kendall's damp palms grasped around his own desperately and pulled his arm so hard he knew a ligament was torn. The wound Celestine had left him with roared in a hot pain and it took everything he had to hold on to both Kendall and the hook.

James mercifully witnessed the scene and hit the button to bring the hook up as fast as he could manage.

The chain moved painfully slow as far as all three were concerned. Two more crocodiles tried their luck jumping. One was too far to the left whilst another only just missed Kendall's feet as she raised them up in the nick of time.

The chain finally reached the top and James hit the button to take it back to the platform though he wanted Felix and Kendall back with him. He determined that even if he could break the glass that separated them he might only wound them with shards in the process. His dark blue stare filled with horror at the sight of Kendall. She was limp, her skin grey and her left leg crimson and still leaking blood.

"I'll come to you!" James snapped into Trevino's intercom system. Only when they were both back on the platform did he turn away from the grim spectacle. He had to find a way over them. Then they all had to find a way out of here. He realised angrily that he didn't know where here was or how many hostiles they were going to have to deal with. He realised his phone was gone along with his gun so he couldn't even attempt to call for aid or try and figure out their location from his GPS system.

Felix sank down against the metal wall with a pant, wincing at the squeal of his damp back against the metal. It was a welcome coolness against him. He looked down to Kendall limp in his grasp and filled with worry as he shook her. He studied her leg and saw the blood and made out the mark of a bite through the damp crimson. He half-crawled to the thug lying dead against the wall and with difficulty prised off his black top. He pushed the corpse back and got to work quickly, binding Kendall's wound as tightly as he could with the cloth. It would need cauterised but for that he needed heat.

Kendall came too with a whimper of pain.

"It's alright," Felix murmured, "we're going to get out of here."

"Just like that?" she asked hoarsely.

Felix smiled down at her confidently. "Just like that," he answered sincerely.

He roused her to feet with great difficulty and pulled her arm up over his shoulders. He had to double over so she could reach. He knew if his arm hadn't been damaged he could have carried her but as it was he could barely keep upright himself with the pain he was in.

They limped slowly up the corridor, easy targets. Kendall's vision kept flashing red and twice she skidded as her damp feet turned the metal floor slippery. Felix stopped them outside the room he had briefly been a prisoner in. "Just a moment," he said softly.

Felix propped Kendall up against the doorway before slipping in to inspect the room. There were no obvious storage places but he was hopeful, surely it was about time they got some luck. He tested the panels on the wall and found a trick one at the back. With effort and a few choice curse words he prised it free to reveal a metal box behind it with a lock. He reached for the keys he had taken from Celestine, abandoned temporarily to the floor in his struggle with her and then rescued again, and tried one. It failed.

Kendall gave a low moan of pain. Felix glanced over his shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "Won't be a moment." He tested key number two. "Third time's the charm." The third key failed. "Shit maybe fourth then." The fourth key slotted into place and with a turn to the right the lock clicked free.

Felix opened the box and smiled in relief when he found his gun, James' gun, their phones and his lighter. He pocketed his possessions, his Browning slipping through his belt whilst James went in his back pocket with the safety most assuredly on. He hit his phone, low battery and no signal. He sighed and hit a switch on it. It sent out a signal for help along with his location.

He pocketed the phone and hastened back to Kendall who remained an odd shade of grey and barely conscious. "Come on, it won't be far," he said with forced mirth.

Kendall just nodded weakly as she began to limp along beside him. The hope had gone out of her eyes. She knew they were fucked.

* * *

 _So this chapter was hard. It's been in my head for a while but it was to commit to because I'm wary of how it will be received I suppose, crocdiles and all that. Consider it my tribute to Live and Let Die, both the novel and the film (my favourite in the series, shocking I know)._


	9. Chapter 9- Jungle Run

The shock had set in and the girl had withdrawn against Felix as if he could protect her from the monster in the jungle. Felix gave James a warning look that plainly stated 'leave her alone'.

James' jaw clenched slightly as he resisted the urge to snap at the girl anyway. He understood the shock, she'd almost been eaten by crocodiles of all things, she was suffering from a bite wound and the sting of Felix's lighter's flame cauterising the wound, and worse. James didn't know what exactly 'worse' was and Felix was not going to elaborate. The fact that she had been in her underwear and a shirt with the buttons ripped off it had implied some of what she had suffered but James had no desire to speculate over that. Now she was in a long, grey coat stolen off some henchman punched into unconsciousness, it wasn't ideal but it gave her some better concealment than her own ripped shirt.

The English spy supposed that the girl had done her bit already and valiantly too, guiding them on their escape from Trevino's base. Without her directions they would probably be dead.

It had been a daring escape, successful only thanks to James setting off a smoke bomb outside (mercifully not discovered when on his person concealed as a key tag) giving him, Felix and Kendall the chance to flee to motorbikes waiting nearby.

The bikes had only gotten them so far, as Kendall had warned there was no direct road up to the hideout. She had been surprised by the bikes and murmured that yes they were a good size but she doubted their tyres held well on the terrain. She had sat in front of James, barely upright against him as she had hurriedly attempted directions whilst he had tried to steer and return gunfire. Felix had struggled alone behind them, unable to return gunfire thanks to a torn ligament in his left arm.

They had ridden down ancient stone steps with a fanfare of engine roars from the motorbikes before heading over the bumpy grounds of roots and rocks, skidding past trees in a desperate attempt to escape.

Escape, it was a word James knew well but he didn't like it. It was a coward's thing to do but they had been heavily outnumbered and overwhelmed with weapons. Even with their guns back they didn't stand much of a chance. He had to concede, bitterly, that they had greatly underestimated their foe and been foolish to think they could have ambushed him. He supposed it had been a choice easy to understand, they had had the advantage and subtly of lesser numbers and their intentions had been to sneak in unnoticed and bomb the place. If it hadn't been for Celestine's betrayal they might have even succeeded but she had seen them exposed and ambushed and their bombs removed and the plan had turned from attack to survival.

When the jungle had become too thick for the bikes to cope any more they had abandoned them and swapped to walking. It was alright while they were still going downhill but then they had been forced to shift to an uphill trek following a narrow, concealed path through a low mountain mist and past brooks and small waterfalls. James' only reassurance that they weren't getting lost in the jungle was the little evidence of the presence of mankind many, many years ago. Carvings in rocks, minute statues almost forgotten beneath rocks and moss, and the faded etchings of symbols he could not interpret had all suggested that there was indeed an ancient path to follow just not one James could navigate.

James had even been hopeful of their chances until Kendall noticeably deteriorated and they began to lose the light of day. When they had come to a small clearing by a shallow pool and Kendall had stumbled for the umpteenth time Felix had finally called a halt to their travels.

Now here they were, seated and leaning back against the trees. All three were sticky with the heat, stained in dirt, blood and sweat, and waiting for the cool of the night whilst fearing the darkness. James craved a fire but he knew it would be foolish to have one and that the need was a primitive one anyway. He contemplated using the light on his phone to help them as the shadows of the trees grew longer and darker but he knew he had to conserve the battery. Like Felix he had no signal but he had a vague hope of his tracker working and bringing help to them. Help he had been too proud to ask for in the first instance. Thank God Felix hadn't held the same pride and had made Jack aware of their plans beforehand.

Somewhere in the South American region the colourful CIA agent Jack Wade lingered waiting for Felix's call. Though he had not received it James and Felix were hopeful that he had picked up on the distress call Felix had pinged out earlier and was not instead ignorant to it and enjoying the local rum in a cheap, wooden shack styled bar. God what James would give to be in the bar, cigar burning slowly in one hand, a glass in the other, martini if he could manage it, something cheaper but just as strong if they didn't have it and a beautiful, bronze skinned native girl with big, bright, brown eyes to keep him company. That image faded quickly to give way to the soft, baby blue eyes of another, a stare cold even when seductive. How the hell had he fallen so easily for that? How could he have been so willing to believe that she was on his side and Kendall was not?

James' cerulean blue eyes darted across the jungle floor littered with fallen leaves and spoiled fruit that separated him from Felix and Kendall. Her pupils were large and unfocused, darting about anxiously as the blurriness of a fever began to settle in them. Her dark hair was frizzy and still damp and sitting outwards in a tangle about her pallid, sweaty face. James didn't think he had ever seen her look so pale. He wondered if he had dismissed her so easily for her hostility and obvious dislike towards him whilst accepting Celestine's bright smile and open, outgoing attitude at face value. He knew he had been petty to Kendall, disliking her because she disliked him and allowing that to turn to hatred when she had the audacity to forgive Felix but continued to brand him with loathing. He reminded himself bitterly that Felix had not seduced her sister for information and brought about her death. Felix's only role to cause her anger had been his chosen employment, a member of an organisation she had believed had betrayed her.

"It wasn't the CIA," James said suddenly.

Felix looked back at him questioningly. "What wasn't?" he pried quietly. He was leaning back against a palm tree, legs stretched before him and Kendall between them leaning back into his arms and against his chest. His shirt was stained in varying shades of yellow, brown and red and was bunched up unevenly at the sleeves so that his bare arms embraced the young woman. She was heavy and warm against him, an uncomfortable presence but he did not dare shift her. Felix could hear the panicked skip of her heart and the tightness of each breath she took, she was frightened.

"There was no rogue CIA agent," James explained quietly. "It was Celestine who betrayed her," he said with a nod to the girl.

Kendall's turquoise eyes flashed over at him, two tiny pricks of oceanic blues and greens that almost glowed as a dying beam of sunlight danced over them.

"She told Trevino about her," James explained.

"France," Kendall croaked out, her voice hoarse from her earlier screams. "I lived there for years." She dipped her head with an angry scowl.

James nodded. "She probably got your file through her connections and leaked it to Trevino," James guessed. "You went from France to Mexico, didn't you?"

"Yes," Kendall answered bitterly. "You know he won't stop until I'm dead," she added quietly. "I know too much...I'm the only one who knows all the routes he could use."

"Then you must give us that information," James answered calmly.

Kendall looked up at him hatefully. "So when he kills me it's okay because someone else knows?" she quipped savagely.

James bristled at the accusation and shook his head. "No, so that he has no need to silence you because it won't mean silencing your knowledge."

"He'll kill me for vengeance," she retorted hotly. Her nerves were clear as she fidgeted against Felix and her stare kept jumping about the jungle searching the darkness.

"We'll get him first," Felix said confidently.

"He's gone," Kendall mumbled.

"You led us to him once, you'll do it again," he assured. "You know where he could go, where he will go but we'll discuss it later."

"What if I say no?" she asked quietly. "What if I leave and take my chances somewhere else? Somewhere remote where maybe he'll leave me alone?"

"Can you afford to take that chance?" James demanded. "Can you hide from him?"

Tears streaked down her dirt smudged cheeks slowly. "No," she admitted, "but I don't want to go to him again." She shook slightly. "It will be worse next time."

Felix pulled her back against him, wrapping his good arm about her as he secured her against his chest sideways and rested his chin atop her crown. He didn't say anything, instead he kept a careful gaze on James until the last of the daylight finally left them and they could only guess at where the other was.

James half-expected Felix to offer some sentiment of promises of protection but he didn't. James considered that maybe it was only he who offered false hope and vows of safety either to quieten hysterics, encourage a confession or worse, to ease the tension from a situation and turn it to one of passion. How many women now had he vowed to protect and failed? How many had slid off their garments exchanging sexual favours to him hoping to mean something to him and ensure his words of safety were more than just words? It was all part of James' act and charm but it was not Felix's style.

Felix wouldn't promise Kendall an eternal protection unless he knew he could give it. Right now in the darkness of the jungle, unsure of their location and with a wounded arm and only two bullets left Felix knew damn well that he couldn't guarantee the woman's security.

For three hours they had only the noise of the mountain wildlife to comfort them. Unseen monkeys called low into the night along with the squeak of bats and the low screech of night time birds on the hunt. The echoing of snapping branches and brambles breaking underfoot came from the shadows so often that Felix and James both quickly learned to stop tensing at them and to dismiss them as the sounds of the jungle. It had them both on edge, every sound was unknown and a potential threat and only the babbles of the nearby streams and rivers sounded soothing but even that James was wary of as it could offer the perfect cover for someone with a soft tread of foot.

It was as the evening drew late that Kendall disturbed the hum of the rivers and low calls of the nocturnal predators with her odd keening sound. Felix tensed in surprise at it whilst James was so startled he reached for his gun before realising that the noise came not from a wounded animal but from Kendall.

"Is she dreaming?" James hissed out angrily in the darkness. "For God's sake what is that noise she's making?"

"Fear," Felix answered grimly, "it's the sound of fear James." He turned his attention to her, and felt her trembling in her sleep, twitching her limbs every so often as a louder moan escaped her. He remembered the marks on her body, and more clearly he recalled the two thugs who had held just hours ago, one restraining her readying her for a rape delivered by the other. He tensed and shut his eyes tightly trying to dismiss the image from his head but it was engrained there and he knew if it affected him this badly it had to be worse for her. No wonder she was so scared, all the things Trevino had done to her or had done to her on his behalf and yet she thought he was capable of worse.

"That noise will draw someone to us," James grumbled moodily. He was disturbed by the sound though he didn't like to admit it.

"No it won't," Felix grumbled back. He gave her a gentle shake anyway in an attempt to rouse her.

James looked out at the darkness and tried to ignore the sound, it was like the wail of a beaten dog. He thought of Emmanuel Trevino, once an almost mythical figure to him now he had a face to put in the name. It outraged him to think how easily Trevino had slipped from their grasp and how they had given him every advantage. He knew the CIA and MI6 were on to him, he knew they had Kendall and thus his routes and he knew the two agents after him were wandering the jungle in the night, outgunned and outnumbered, whilst he had all his men and money to aid him to slip through the nets. James imagined the base they had briefly been captive in would be hastily abandoned and Trevino would flee. With all the routes Kendall had given him he had a wide choice but a time limit. He would know the agents couldn't possibly get all his potential exits covered in time so would he go for the closest escape or pot luck it and hope to pick one that might not yet be riddled with CIA spies? James shook his head, he didn't know Trevino well enough to speculate over where he might flee to or even how. He glanced back in Kendall's direction though he could see nothing. Would she know? Could she give them another route, another lead?

Felix had Kendall quietened to a low, erratic whimper now. It was an improvement but it wasn't enough for James.

"Can't you quieten her?" the English spy quipped crossly. "Tell her it's alright or something."

"She's asleep James," Felix retorted with a hint of irritation in his voice, "what do you want me to do? Wake her up and lie to her?"

"It's not a lie," James answered angrily. "It will be alright, we'll get out of here come sunrise, she knows the way."

Felix sighed. "You didn't see what happened to her in that place," he murmured darkly. "I don't think it gets to be alright after that."

James hesitated as he considered his response. "Don't get sentimental over her," he scorned at last. "We have a job to finish Felix, stay focused."

Felix swallowed down his heated answer and frowned out into the inky blackness of the night. An uncomfortable silence followed.

* * *

"Left," Kendall commented wearily. She stumbled on, pausing to lean against a palm tree momentarily.

James and Felix exchanged a look before obediently walking along side her. For three hours it had been like this. A lengthy trek through the jungle terrain, swapping mist for thick palm trees, trees for waterfalls and waterfalls for vines and rocks as they manoeuvred between plantation so thick it was almost impossible to walk through it and ruins of half-crumbled buildings, steps and statues.

They were closer to the bottom of the mountain and James was hopeful they would come to a clearing soon. His shirt was soaked with sweat, his skin irritated with any amount of bug bites and his stomach tight with pangs of hunger. His only relief was that most of the streams were crystal clear and offered fresh, clean drinking water for them.

Kendall kept going, vision watering, leg throbbing in agony and threatening to give out and her head throbbing with every step. She was sore and stiff from head to toe and had been dizzy since awakening to a hot dawn. Desperation seem to drive her on and the spies were wary of the inevitable collapse.

She stopped against another tree and let out a deep rattled breath before doubling over as her head swam and a wave of sickness rushed through her.

"Kendall how far?" James demanded.

She swallowed hard and sucked into another breath as her throat burned and her head continued to ache. "Not far," she answered hoarsely. "Just to the right and through the trees," she instructed with a tried wave of her right hand.

Felix extended his right arm about her waist, tensing as she did. "Come on," he said softly.

Kendall leaned against the blonde reluctantly and allowed him to help her stumble up a narrow route to the right. There was a small set of stone steps almost lost beneath wild grass and fallen leaves. They followed them down to a tall clearing of trees.

James became aware of new sounds over the call of the morning wildlife. It was water lapping calmly in an unseen breeze and with it came the faint odour of salt and the sound of voices. He felt a rush of elation before contemplating that it could be the sound of the enemy. He tugged out his gun and looked to Felix pointedly.

Felix halted, hearing what James did, and looked to Kendall hesitantly. He needed to release the girl to make use of his gun hand. "Where are we Kendall?" he queried quietly.

She looked up at him with a tired, weak smile. "Trevino has a boat hidden here," she murmured. Her eyes flickered shut and she hit the ground inelegantly, landing on her knees with a wince of pain.

"God damn it," Felix hissed out, barely keeping his voice quiet. "Kendall you were meant to take us to civilisation to get you help."

James darted up alongside them but he kept his gaze ahead and his ears pricked to the sounds head. Had anyone detected them? Was it even Trevino lurking behind the trees? "I'm going to look," he remarked softly. He moved slow and low, relying on the trees and wild grass to conceal him, fearful of branches underfoot that might betray him.

Felix glanced from him to Kendall, hesitating once more as he drew out his Browning.

"Go," Kendall murmured tiredly, "and if he's there kill him."


	10. Chapter 10- Choices

A split decision was always an unwanted thing. You had mere seconds, nanoseconds even, to decide between two impossible things knowing that no matter what decision you took there would be consequences. Sometimes there wasn't even a right decision in the end making the entire process pointless and excruciating. For Felix he took perhaps two seconds at the most to make his decision knowing that no matter what choice he made he would have regrets.

They had entered into chaos. There was a boat as Kendall had said, three in fact- two small, wooden and old-fashioned, and one large, metal and modern. There were also enough hostile people to make things a tad uncomfortable for Felix and James.

The largest boat was in the process of taking off, the motor was running, the boarding plank was being removed and they were seconds away from losing it and whatever was on board.

BANG! BANG! James fired quickly at the minions who were helping the boat on its way. One bullet cut cleanly through a brunette's left shoulder whilst another lodged in a redhead's chest sending him to the water with a cry and a vain gurgle. James jumped onto the deck of a boat to the right of the larger boat.

BANG! BANG! Two more men jumped out of James' way giving him a clear path to clamber onto a crate and then up onto the roof of the boat.

BANG! Another shot, this time at a man on the large boat ready to fire at him. The man fell forwards with a shriek and joined his companion dead in the water.

James abandoned his gun hastily, it had been procured from Trevino's base. He ran across the roof and jumped. He made it look seamless as his hands grasped the railings of the large boat and he swung up, throwing himself backwards and up to kick an assailant hard in both feet before landing on the deck. His familiar Walther PPK was out and ready instantly.

Felix watched James between glimpsing for his own foes. Many of the men were loaders, their weapons were crowbars, knives and bats, only a couple had guns. This was a hasty retreat for them, their cargo was small, probably whatever they could carry on their persons and no more. Unmarked crates with drugs or weapons, the CIA agent didn't know which.

Felix jumped onto the smaller boat and kicked out at a crew member, swiping a foot hard into the man's stomach causing him to double over and stumble back in pain. Felix moved onto the same crate James had and then onto the roof.

The larger boat was moving away.

Felix glanced over his shoulder and thought briefly of Kendall in the trees. His grey eyes widened as he saw men going that way. Was it curiosity? Were they ensuring no one else was coming out after Felix and James? Or had they heard something? Had they heard her? Stay with Kendall or go with James? Two seconds was all Felix had to make the crucial decision.

BANG! One of the men heading into the jungle fell down dead as a bullet whizzed through the side of skull leaving a bloody mess upon exiting.

Felix leapt for the boat and only just managed to grasp at the railing. He did not swing up with the same ease as James but instead scrambled up anxiously, heart in his chest as he realised the vulnerable position he had put himself in. With a pant and a wince as his left arm screamed in pain reminding him of his injuries and almost refused to hoist his weight, he finally made it up onto the decking. He stumbled across it awkwardly just as a man came at him with a knife.

BANG! The first shot was rushed and panicked. It missed but caused the blonde's foe to hesitate. BANG! Felix sent the man to the ground with a roar of pain and a bullet through the side of his gut, rupturing a kidney though Felix couldn't know it.

Felix heaved out a sigh and put his back to a steel cabin wall to survey the scene as safely as he could. He squinted back to shore, it was already becoming a distant blur. The boat was quicker than he had thought it would be and its motors gave a deceptively low hum in the cool, murky waters of the lake. Felix eyed several silhouettes heading in what he thought was Kendall's direction and he cursed.

The decision was made and there was no undoing it. Stopping Trevino was the job, he had to complete it. Plus James had been his friend for years now, if one could actually have a friend in this line of work. Sometimes Felix wasn't really sure if he and James were really friends or if they made a show of friendship because they were lonely in their work and incapable of having real friends outside it. They could never truly find a closeness with someone else without sharing things about their lives that they shouldn't.

The Englishman was already heading down into the bowels of the ship having knocked out the captain in the cabin. Gunfire answered him sending sparks into his vision as bullets danced off the metal walls warningly.

James felt a rush of adrenaline as he shrank back into a small doorway, pushing the metal door outwards as a form of cover as he waited patiently.

The bullets rattled loudly against the walls and floors, it was an automatic gun ringing off bullets in quick succession. James didn't think it was a machine gun, perhaps an automatic pistol.

"James!" Felix shouted through the roar of bullets.

"Hang back Felix!" James called back warningly.

A few more rat a tas of bullets and James risked peeking out from behind the door. He was surprised to see the assailant was a woman. She was standing in a doorway also, probably though herself concealed but a spill of dark blue-black hair protruded from the side. It wasn't enough to hit but it was enough to direct James' aim. He sucked in a breath and waited, counting the seconds in his head. Each one was going to count soon. He had to hope his pull of the trigger was quicker than hers. Couldn't hesitate because it was a woman, she wasn't hesitating because he was a man. He heard a loud click and out she popped, gun raised and ready.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

She got out three bullets to match James' one but one was all it took. One straight through the centre point of her forehead whilst only one of hers got close to him, cutting close enough to his right ear to create a loud ringing noise in it.

"Come on Felix!" James shouted before he started running down the corridor. He stopped, holstered his gun and snatched up hers. It was a Glock 18 automatic pistol, not an ideal weapon of choice for James but they didn't have a lot of options and his Walther PPK was low on ammunition. He plucked it up and led the way on.

Between them Felix and James took out six more foes before reaching the bottom of the boat where they expected to find Trevino ready and waiting, hoping for escape. They were wrong.

The blow came suddenly and unexpected from the right. James howled in pain as he was struck with a taser and several volts pumped through him.

BANG!

James' assailant had no more been expecting Felix than James had been expecting the attack on him. The taser was dropped as the man stumbled back clutching a bleeding arm and exhaling several insults in Spanish. James slumped against the wall as he struggled to breathe and stay conscious as his vision danced with red.

BANG! Felix shot out again ending the man's life.

Click. Click. "Damn I'm out of bullets," Felix muttered under his breath before he looked to James worriedly. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," James muttered as he stood upright and looked to the deceased angrily. He was a fat, greasy haired man, face pockmarked with greying whiskers at his chin, oily skinned as well. Out of shape but big enough to use weight instead of muscles. James found it odd that he was armed with a taser though her considered how much worse a gun might have been. "Do you have another gun?" he queried.

"Nix," Felix admitted woefully with a shake of his head.

"I'll lead then," James answered firmly, "get another if you can." He stepped past the corpse and up to a door sealed and windowless with an electric keypad guarding the way. James sighed.

"Allow me," Felix remarked confidently. He tugged out his phone and pressed a button on it. An ultraviolet light shone over the buttons and three buttons showed up prominent smeared fingerprints. "Just got to guess the order," Felix murmured happily. "Let's see, we've got three numbers- one, four and nine but pin codes are usually four digits."

"It's a year," James realised suddenly. He stepped forward and punched in one, nine, nine, four. The barcode box gave an unpleasant buzz that he knew as a denial.

Felix gave a sudden grin before he tried one, nine, four, nine. There was a more pleasant bing and the door lock clicked free.

"Nineteen, forty-nine," James murmured as he dropped to a crouch, pulled the handle of the door down with him and opened it slowly. "What's the significance of that?"

"The birth year of Pablo Escobar," Felix explained in a low murmur, "Colombian cocaine drug lord and a terrorist, I imagine Trevino's a fan."

BANG!

The loud boom of a shotgun temporarily deafened the men as its pellets sailed narrowly above them. Knowing he couldn't let the assailant get another shot, James pushed the door open faster, raised the automatic and returned fire hard and fast.

There was a loud rattling of bullets and another explosive bang from the shotgun before their assailant ducked behind a stack of crates to reload.

"Time for something else," Felix decided hastily. He plucked out an eight ball key chain, took a chance to stand up and threw it swiftly in the direction of the crates.

James readied his gun once more as the eight ball did its job, releasing smoke as it impacted on the floor behind the crates.

The assailant came up coughing unable to help themselves. Their form was difficult to make out in the smoke but there was enough of a dark shadow for James to take aim.

BANG! BANG! Another foe died with a cry of pain.

Only then when the gunfire and ringing caused by it had died down did Felix and James become aware of the other sounds. Whimpers, coughing, chokes, screams and pleas in Spanish. Felix looked first, pale grey eyes shifting to the right to take in the rest of the room. Iron bars stood there marking out three large cages and in them shrinking back from the smoke with watery eyes were women. Skinny, bruised and weary filthy garments and manacles that bound them in chains to the walls.

Suddenly Felix became aware of the bitter odour of urine coupled the strong stench of faeces.

"Jesus," Felix muttered grimly with a shake of his head. This was Trevino's boat alright but not his escape boat, it was one for ferrying out sex slaves. Felix bowed his head angrily and thought suddenly of Kendall bleeding out back on the shore. "Fuck he's not here is he?"

"We don't know that," James murmured. He kept his doubt from his voice though he wondered. Trevino hadn't been with the captain and James hadn't noticed any other rooms on their way down here. It was a boat decided for speed not comfort and James was willing to venture that the crew on it were normally minimum as the women were already restrained and a camera in the wall opposite the cages probably kept them from attempting anything. He swallowed hard thinking of the man with the taser. The fat pig had probably served as a sufficient deterrent down here.

"Estamos aquí para ayudar," Felix addressed the women as he returned his attention to them and their pleading eyes. "Estamos aquí para ayudar," he repeated the words loudly and slowly. "Policía."

James gave his friend an odd look at that.

The blonde shrugged tiredly. "I don't think they're going to understand or believe secret spy," he murmured sardonically. "We need to get this boat back to shore and get help." He turned his attention to his phone and cursed. "Battery's dead, wouldn't you know it."

James tugged his phone out. "Mine's dead too," he grumbled. "I'll go up to the captain's cabin and see if there's a phone to use there." He passed the automatic pistol to Felix. "Take this, just in case."

Felix accepted the gun with a nod. "Alright, be quick James." He wanted to add 'Kendall's on shore' but he knew it was futile. James would go as quick as he could without that reminder and whatever had happened to her had happened, they weren't going to be able to undo it now. Felix felt his throat turn dry, there had been at least four men armed and heading in her direction. She had had no weapons and she had been on her knees and close to a faint.

Felix dipped his head in despair as James hurried out. He had made his choice and he was already regretting it. Trevino hadn't been here. Yet if Felix hadn't followed James, James could have been killed and these poor women might never have been saved. Hell, he was jumping the gun a bit there, they weren't saved yet. "None of us are safe yet," he muttered under his breath.

Felix was conscious of the many frightened and pleading stares upon him but he had no key for the locks on the three gates and he didn't want to open them just yet anyway, not until he knew they were heading for safety.

* * *

Jack Wade glanced through his large mirrored shades at his co-worker curiously. Jack hadn't spent much time with Felix Leiter over the years and had little desire to. Jack was an upbeat, no bullshit kind of guy and for a brief while he had considered Felix to be someone similar. Felix gave off an easygoing vibe and he had the same healthy dose of brazeness for their superiors that Jack did but Felix was as different kind of risk taker and he was a bold sneak when it served him and whilst that might be ideal for the job Jack didn't like it.

Jack was upfront about his business, he refused to talk in spy code like Felix and James, considering it an outdated ritual but he could play the role of friend to the English spy, hell he even liked to do it but he wasn't so sure about the rest, about the people they used and abused to see a job successfully to the end. As far as Jack was concerned Felix was too into their job, he and James both, they could laugh with people and charm them and then they could just as easily leave them to die.

The French girl had been one thing. Her death was classified and Jack was still mystified over who exactly had killed her and why but he had been told she wasn't on the level and he accepted that. She was an enemy then fine, good job she was dead. The other girl however, the half-Mexican, that was something else.

Jack had thought James and Felix had both had a vested interest in Kendall McKenna, that she was a necessity to this job. Apparently at some point that had changed but Jack couldn't quite figure out when or how. All he knew was that when he had come chasing after Felix's SOS call, (with a small army of native, trustworthy police, a couple of Narco agents from the USA and three of his own men) he had not been expecting to find Kendall alone and at the mercy of three men with James and Felix nowhere to be seen.

She had killed one man herself but that had cost her. They had messed her pretty face up good in revenge and were in the process of creating other injuries when Jack and his men had come across them. A few good bullets had put them in the ground but it didn't really seem enough considering the damage they had wrought.

Jack might have accepted a story of Kendall becoming disposable in the heat of the moment, having served her use and all that, except here was Felix anxious eyed and desperate to see her. If you didn't care about a person you didn't come with such sad looking eyes to see them but if you did care about them then you sure as hell didn't leave them alone, unarmed and injured in the middle of a freaking jungle with known hostiles nearby.

So Jack looked at Felix through his sunglasses trying and failing to figure out his motivation for being here and he decided promptly that yeah, the blonde was good at his job but when it came to being a decent human being he wasn't great.

Felix looked at Jack impatiently, a lone guard in the doorway, dressed as usual in clothes unexpected for a spy and yet so perfect for one undercover in this climate. Hell right now he was blending in better than Felix and only his stoic stance gave him away as something other than a tourist.

They were in a two tiered wooden building that served as the medical clinic for a small town. It was the closest to some halfway decent healthcare that Jack and the others could get them. It was private at least, easily guarded but easily targeted too. The women from the boat were on the floor below taking up the attention of the staff. Kendall had been a priority only briefly before they had realised she wasn't going to die. The women on the boat weren't from this town but they were from Colombia which made them natives to Kendall's foreigner and bumped them up to a priority.

"Missy in there got her face bashed in real good," Jack murmured bluntly.

Felix tensed at his words, ill-liking out Jack sounded out 'missy' and wondering if he had made it sound so derogatory when he had called Kendall the same thing. He had yet to see the woman, hell he hadn't even been certain she was alive until twenty minutes ago. Jack had already taken off with her before Felix, James and the boat had reached the shore. It was only when some policeman had grumbled in Spanish about the dark haired gringo woman looking bad that Felix had made the connection. After a few heated demands for more information Felix had finally gotten directed here.

"And what else?" Felix asked quietly.

The doorway was open and the blonde wondered if Kendall could hear them. He couldn't see past Jack's opposing frame to tell how close she was to them.

"Well Felix, there were four of them and she took out one somehow, smashed his skull with a rock I think, and that thoroughly pissed them off. They had a lot of anger to take out on her and I don't know how much time."

Jack drew himself upright and let his shades slide down slightly so Felix could see his cold, disapproving stare before he continued on. "Look, I don't know what you're using her for these days, seems you've gone up into the mountains already and I can't be sure but I'm surmising you fucked up, but maybe when you see her you could find a shred of decency and cut her loose from this."

Felix bristled at Jack's bluntness and rubbed at his tatty blonde hair with his right hand. It was clumped with sweat, dirt and blood. His left arm had finally been treated and was in a makeshift bandage but he had dismissed the sling and the painkillers. He'd take some later when he was ready for sleep. He was sore, he stank and he was exhausted but all of that could wait. At long last he could make Kendall a priority and he was determined to.

"Don't get sentimental," Felix echoed James' words with a shake of his head. "Not so easy though, we're not robots are we Jack?" He offered his co-worker a weak smile.

Jack didn't get the joke and he was a little disturbed by the faint blood staining Felix's teeth. "Alright Leiter, you really need to get yourself cleaned up."

"After I see her," the blonde answered wearily.

Jack stepped forward and to one side at last. "Go ahead, I have to call in and report anyway. Just thought someone should treat missy like a human being."

Felix gritted his teeth to the final insult and headed into the room.

It was larger than he had expected, all wooden with cream, linen curtains at a large window which the lone bed was near. Kendall lay on thin sheets hooked up to a half-empty drip of some clear liquid. Her leg had been cleaned and banadaged, the bite stitched together though Felix couldn't see that and her stained garments had been swapped for a loose, clean, pale blue dress robe. There was a wooden cabinet by her bedside with several objects on it. Beside this was a single wooden chair, stiff and hard looking with no cushions.

Felix did a quick scan of the room though it was hard to take his gaze off Kendall. He realised the window must be open as the curtains were flapping lazily in a faint breeze. Felix didn't like it, it created a vulnerability in the security of the room and it didn't ease the humidity much. There was no clock anywhere and no sense of time. Felix's watch had stopped ages ago and his phone was away getting charged. Last he had checked it was late afternoon, sometime around three but he couldn't recall how many hours ago that had been. It was hard to tell the hour given the summer sun stayed up long into the evening before setting swiftly with barely a goodbye.

Felix hurried to Kendall until she turned his way, then he halted and froze up. Jack hadn't been exaggerating about her condition. Her nose was swollen and the nostrils stained with a thick crusting of dried blood that spread down to her lip, which was also swollen and cut in several places. There was stitching down her left cheek, a plaster above her right eye, and her eyes were badly bruised and so swollen Felix wasn't sure if she could see him.

Felix made himself look down to the rest of her. Her neck had a ring of bruising around it, black and purple marks that ressembled fingers, the signs of a severe strangling. There were a few more cuts and plasters and the hints of stitching beneath her light dress robe but her face bore the worst of it. Felix was wordless. He swallowed hard before he made himself keep walking until he was standing beside her putting her in his shadow.

"Did you get him?" Her voice was even hoarser but he understood.

"No," he admitted bitterly. "Shit Kendall I'm sorry."

She was upon him suddenly with a wild wail, raising her fists to slam against his torso as hard as she could. "Don't say sorry you bastard," she tried to shout but with the injuries to her neck it was impossible. "It's not enough. You left me to get him." She paused, laboured by the pain in her throat. "You left me and I thought I could accept it," she babbled, her voice strained as she became hysterical, "because he was meant to die. I led you to him damn it. God it just gets worse. Worse and worse. He'll kill me," she added quietly. "You were meant to kill him otherwise why leave me? What was the point?" She started to sob between her words. "What was the point in me getting hurt if he didn't die?" she asked miserably. "Oh Jesus he's going to kill me."

Felix waited until her beatings against him subsiding, the physical violence giving way to harsh sobs instead. "Kendall I am sorry for leaving you," he insisted.

"You didn't even hesitate," she accused, her voice almost a whisper as she looked up at him with watery eyes, "and I was okay with it Felix, I was, if he died." She paused and her lip quivered before she started to cry again. "But he didn't die."

"He wasn't there," the blonde explained numbly. He reached out to Kendall at last but she withdrew from him with an angry look and he let his arms drop harmlessly by his side. "Kendall I did what I had to," he said softly. "I thought he was on the boat but I was wrong."

She trembled even as she nodded. "I know, I know, I wanted you to go after him, I did but God it hurts. My face burns Felix, everything hurts and I'm so scared of what he'll do next."

Felix wanted to make promises that there would be no next time for Kendall but the words wouldn't come because the lie tasted too bitter on his tongue. Instead he reached for her again, just his right hand this time to loosely brush against her hair. "I'll stay right here," he said quietly, "while you get some rest, okay? Everything else we worry about later."

"But-"

He moved his hand down gently to press a finger lightly against her lips. He suppressed a wince when he felt the roughness of them as he touched a wound. "Later Kendall, all I can do is guarantee the now."

Felix turned his attention to the seat and occupied it, frowning briefly at the hardness of it. He looked then to the cabinet. On it was a bowl of clear water and a dry cloth amongst other things. Felix didn't know if it was meant to be for washing the wounds or cooling her brow. There were cotton balls there too in an open bag, a plastic glass, and a jug full of ice and water. Felix filled up the glass and offered it out to the woman.

Kendall accepted it and took a grateful sip. She wanted to gulp the water but her throat was tight and rough and even a sip was costly as it caused more pain than relief. After only three sips she rejected the glass and returned it to the cabinet.

Felix looked at her face dejectedly unable to keep his woe from his own. He knew it was his fault, he had left her to the jungle and she had been assaulted. Her or James. She had lived but James might have died if Felix hadn't helped him. Even that thought only consoled the CIA agent a little because he couldn't know for sure. He plucked up a cotton ball and soaked it in the bowl before raising it up to her.

Kendall winced as the blonde dabbed the damp cotton ball along her upper lip and below her nostrils at the raw wound and bloodstains left there.

"Does it hurt any less?" he pried.

"No," she answered tiredly.

He cracked a bitter half-smile at this. "Alright, I suppose I don't deserve to be humoured," he admitted. "Silly question. You know I'm no good at this," he added coolly.

"What, playing doctor?" she queried sardonically.

"No, guilt," he answered calmly.


	11. Chapter 11- Another Choice

James glanced down at his Rolex and gave a thin frown, it was coming up to two in the morning. Knowing the lateness of the hour caused a fatigue within him and he knew he was going to have to sleep soon. He was wary of wasting time on something as simple as sleep but he knew he had to recharge. He had already showered, changed and checked in with MI6 before accepting an array of weapons from the CIA and a brief update on the result of interrogations on the prisoners Jack Wade and his friends had helped round up. There had only been two men in the end, one was a loader who had babbled incoherently about how he was going to be killed whilst the other was a guard who so far had remained silent.

James paced up a set of stairs softly before coming to a halt outside a guarded door. He gave a nod to the sleepy eyed, dark haired male who stood there with a gun slopping sticking up from his belt, his arms crossed and a bored, unimpressed expression on his face. He was one of the CIA's but James couldn't even recall his name right now. James could tell from the man's deadened expression that he evidently felt he should be elsewhere. James didn't know whether to be angry about that or sympathetic. He supposed that standing watch for a wounded girl who was already under the watchful eye of a CIA agent did seem a waste of another agent's time but then he considered all that the girl had already suffered and the foe who was after her and he wondered if the two guards were even enough.

"Commander Bond," the agent greeted him coolly with indifference in his dark brown eyes.

James nodded back, feeling guiltier for not knowing the man's name. Felix and Jack certainly didn't bother with his title, at least this agent felt a need to show him respect.

"I need to go in," James explained quietly.

The man nodded and stepped to one side, granting James access to the closed door. James opened it with ease, pressing down on the handle as quietly as he could manage. As he pushed open the door he sent a spill of gold light in from the hall to a room cast in the heavy shadow of the night. There was a faint glow around the edges of the closed curtains, a pale white from the moonlight but all it did was turn the room's furnishings and occupants into inky silhouettes, making them a deep black set against the greys and dark blues the night had turned the room into.

James heard the warning click of a gun and he tensed.

"Identify yourself," Felix's voice called out coldly.

James was momentarily surprised by the tone in his friend's voice, he hadn't expected Felix to be so on edge. "It's James," he answered back calmly.

There was the sound of footsteps and then another low click before a lamp standing alone against a wall created a faint amber glow in the room. It wasn't much, just enough to turn Felix from a dark shadow to a ghoulish figure, his skin grey in the dull light and his hair edged in an unhealthy orange highlighting.

James watched as Felix returned to the wooden chair he had been occupying and sat down on it calmly, crossing his right leg over his left and leaning back.

James stepped into the room cautiously, shutting the door behind him reluctantly as he did. The English spy felt like he was trespassing but he wasn't sure what exactly he was intruding upon. The air of the room was dead and warm and there was a strong odour of blood mingled with a cheap antiseptic. James felt mildly nauseous from the unpleasant combination of smells as he stepped forward towards Felix. The English spy's deep blue gaze darted to the stoic figure on the bed beside Felix.

James heard Kendall before he spotted her. First was a laboured, rattled breathing that stopped and staggered every couple of seconds, coming in short gasps as if she was struggling for air before it subsided with another heavy, drawn out breath. Then came the whimpers, low and weak, James expected them to be followed by the woeful wailing noise but Felix intervened before it could happen.

The Texan took up Kendall's left hand gently between his palms and cradled it while rubbing his fingertips over her knuckles. "Shush now," he murmured dismissively. He made it sound like an order rather than a phrase of consoling.

James watched silently and waited. After a few moments, no longer than a minute though James felt like it was, Kendall settled back into a slumber plagued with erratic breathing but no more noises of fear or pain.

"So what's the update?" Felix queried quietly.

"The two captured aren't talking," James admitted bitterly, "but the women overheard things."

"What things?" Felix pried.

"Talk of China," James said. "Broken parts of conversation while they were transported. From what we've gathered they weren't being taken there but they overheard enough mentioning of China to imply someone was going there."

"How do we know for sure it wasn't them?"

"Initially there was nothing to confirm it but when your friends put out the word for Trevino and started looking along potential escape routes we all finally caught a break."

Felix looked up at James sharply, his hawk face stern and serious as he waited impatiently for an explanation.

"A private plane took an unscheduled flight from Colombia to Mexico, it raised a few eyebrows but not enough for us to get an immediate call. It landed on a private airfield, which had enough false names of ownership for your boys to take three hours to decode them all and their false trails and realise it was actually Trevino's property. By then the trail went cold and it took a lot to pick it up again. He got a boat, just like she thought he would," James explained with a nod to Kendall. "It's heading west but it's a vast ocean and no one can find the damn thing. Hell no one knows what boat he took, not the name, colour or make, it's not even a hundred percent that there is a boat or that Trevino's on it. Only Kendall might be able to confirm what route he's taking from Mexico to China."

Felix shook his head at this. "No James, not now." he said softly. "Maybe when she's slept enough and if the painkillers don't make her too dopey you can show her a map and get her to scribble out a route but that's it, that's all I'll let you ask of her. Too many variables and too many maybes and too many chances that's it not him again. You and me can go to China but not her."

"We'll need the routes from her and all that she might know about China and what he's doing there," James retorted sternly. "You're right though, she can't come. She can hardly walk Felix, I can see that." He paused and his expression mellowed slightly. "Are you sure you want to come?"

Felix sighed and turned his stare upon Kendall. "We left her in the jungle and they damn near killed her. She's two broken ribs, internal bruising, a broken nose, and they're still waiting to do an x-ray on her neck, they think her vertebra got crushed."

Felix considered his next words carefully. "I leave her here and maybe he sends someone to her," Felix shrugged, "but I stay and that's the job over for me, I'll be fired quicker than you can say quitter. Don't get sentimental James, remember? You know it's all rather stupid," he added dismissively, "I don't even know the first thing about her. I couldn't tell you her favourite colour or song, hell I don't even know if she actually likes Latin music or if she just plays it to wind you up." He cracked a bitter smile at this. "Silly even considering staying for her, I think it's just because she's wounded and looking hurt and maybe that wouldn't have happened if I'd waited in the jungle with her."

"Maybe," James alluded, "but then maybe those women on the boat would have never been found." He watched as Felix continued to keep his stare on Kendall and he realised that the blonde had yet to release her hand from his own. "It's late, have you slept?" James asked.

Felix looked back up at James and shook his head. "No but it's alright, I'll do it on the plane to China. We'll fly, right? It'll be quicker, maybe we can catch him on arrival if we can work out where that will be. At least if we go after him we can finally end it for her, if we get him she doesn't have to fear and wonder about him. If I stayed she would always be looking over her shoulder for him," he added wistfully.

"Right." James nodded and glanced over his shoulder at the door. He knew he should head on, he wasn't even sure what he wanted to say anymore. "You know Felix, favourite colours and things, that's nice but it's superficial, you learn those things in time." He paused awkwardly, still not sure what he wanted to say. "You know her better than you think."

"Sure James. Why did you come up so late anyway?" he queried. He looked up at James with a calm expectation.

James contemplated a lie, an admission of wanting to see how they were after the day's lengthy and troubling events but he realised Felix deserved the truth. "To see how bad the damage was to her," James retorted bluntly, "to decide if she was capable of withstanding questioning."

Felix stiffened and dipped his head slightly. "I see, were you considering waking her up then?" he queried lightly, his voice quiet but edged with disapproval.

"Yes," James admitted, "because time is of the essence Felix. Trevino has a head start, we're following blind with little hope and Kendall is all we have."

"Nix, I'm cutting her loose after this," Felix decided. "Like I said, if she's up to some map reading tomorrow I'll let you have that because I want him too but I'm not going to have her harassed or interrogated over it, she's had enough of that- from us, from him, time to stop using her James. It makes me feel dirty exploiting someone so much, all that damage that can't be undone." He shook his head again. "Let's not add to it."

James' gaze darted from Felix to Kendall and then to Felix again. "Alright Felix," he gave in, "I'll come back at a more sociable hour with a map but we'll not have much time."

Felix nodded. "I know."

James turned and headed back to the door but he paused before grasping the handle and turned back to face Felix. "Bye Felix."

"Bye James, I'll see you later."

James opened the door and slipped back out into the hall. He squinted at the brighter glow and nodded to the guard again before heading off.

Back in Kendall's room, Felix turned off the lamp before reoccupying the uncomfortable seat. Kendall was whimpering again. He took her hand up once more and murmured, "you're okay, I'm staying awake, couldn't sleep in this chair even if I wanted to. Maybe that's point," he mused, "make it hard as stone so no falls asleep on the injured party. You keep sleeping Kendall, you need it."

The hours drifted by slowly for Felix but he didn't mind. He got up a couple of times during the morning hours to stretch out his limbs, exiting just once to relieve himself in the bathroom next door whilst the guard on duty, Jackson, stood in the doorway and kept his stare on Kendall until Felix's prompt return.

The Texan half-nodded off when the hour turned to six and the sun rose up bright and hot turning the air humid and sticky. The air became polluted with birdsong from outside and Felix allowed it to put him in a comfortable stupor, restful but not asleep and still alert enough to sense an intruder.

When eight came there was a low knock on the door rousing Felix once more. He tugged out his Browning and called, "who's there?"

"Jack," came the booming answer.

Felix swallowed down a curse at the volume of Jack's voice and sneaked a glance at Kendall as he holstered his gun. She was still asleep but he knew if he allowed Jack in that wouldn't last. The blonde got to his feet and moved wearily to the door. He opened the door and greeted Jack in the doorway, hoping if he kept Jack at a distance he wouldn't awaken Kendall.

"Morning Leiter, you look like shit," Jack greeted him cheerfully with a wide smirk.

"Thanks," Felix retorted with an unimpressed stare, "now what do you want?"

"James left a message for you."

Felix gave Jack an odd look at this. "Left a message, why? Where's he gone?" He tensed as he felt a prickle of suspicion begin to rise within him.

"Next flight to China I suspect," Jack grumbled, "told his branch he was going to head on in advance, said you had to stay with Kendall because you're the only one she might talk to. Made a big song and dance about it too, called her stubborn and paranoid, worse after her injuries, said she trusted no one 'cept you and that if we wanted any kind of help it would be from her through you. Also said he'd like you to get the quickest route to China out of her as soon as but said if you can't not to concern yourself because he'll take the quickest one he knows and handle it from there."

"Shit," Felix murmured crossly.

"Yeah," Jack mused, "but let me get to the message."

Felix frowned back. "That wasn't it?" he quipped moodily.

"He said take your time with Kendall, said you'd know what he meant by that." Jack dipped his sunglasses down with his left hand to peer at Felix curiously. "Do you?"

Felix's frown deepened. "Yes, it means James is a foolish bastard," he grumbled. "How long ago did he go Jack and what transport did he take?"

"You thinking of following him?"

Felix glanced over his shoulder at Kendall. She was moving beneath the light sheet, stirring under the uncomfortable bright light of the sun. Her head tilted slightly in his direction and he winced. In the darkness it had been easy to forget how severe her injuries were, how bold the bloodstains were against her skin, how wan and drained she looked, and how colourful the bruising was about her eyes.

"No," Felix answered Jack quietly, "just wondering if we will able to get in touch with him to give him the best route to China before he tries to take flight without it."

Felix turned round fully and walked over to Kendall. It was odd but he felt relieved that the choice had been made for him, that James had taken the burden out of his hands and chosen Kendall over Trevino this time for Felix. He wondered briefly at his friend's motivation behind the decision and decided to ask him upon his return. Felix knew it was going to be a long time before he found out if it was the right decision or not but he figured he could live with that.

Felix reached Kendall as her eyes opened slowly and squinted at the light causing her to wince in pain. "Morning," Felix greeted quietly.

"Morning." It was a weak croak but Felix heard it.

"Kendall can I ask you something?" he quipped.

She gave a slow nod in answer.

"What's your favourite colour?"

She regarded him with an odd look as she wondered whether he was being serious or not. After a moment of confused silence she finally answered. "Yellow."


	12. Chapter 12- Paradise

_A warning for this chapter- slightly detailed sex scene._

Jamaica- soft, pale, white beaches, crystal blue coasts that almost merged with the sky causing a dizzying and yet pleasant illusion, vibrant, green leafed palm trees, and the sound of an eternal summer as a backdrop- it was paradise, or it should have been. Felix Leiter was perplexed when he entered the white washed apartment that was to be his place of residence for an unknown time to find Kendall McKenna on a decorative, white wicker chair in the corner of the living room, hugging herself tight as she quivered and silent tears streaked down her face.

Felix placed down his cases wearily and glanced over his shoulder to shake his head warningly at Jack Wade. Jack gave Felix a condescending stare in answer before he took a step back putting himself outside again though he did not shut the door and lingered purposefully close to the doorway. Knowing his co-worker wasn't going to go any further away, Felix decided to just ignore his presence and moved towards Kendall. "Is there something about sandy beaches, a tropical ocean and all expenses paid, five star accommodation that bothers you?" he queried dryly. The terrorised turquoise eyes that looked up at him immediately made Felix regret his poor attempt at humour. He sighed quietly and crouched slightly so that he was eye level with the woman. "Alright, I'm sorry for that," he admitted quietly. "What's wrong Kendall?"

It had been a stressful three weeks since Kendall had ended up in a medical clinic in Colombia and James had left them for China. With much rushing and effort Kendall had helped conveyed a route across the ocean from South America to China to the English spy along with some routes in China that she believed Trevino would use. Kendall had admitted she had never been to China and had no knowledge of any bases Trevino might have there. James had contacted MI6 via Q a few days later to confirm his arrival in China and his welcome reception courtesy of Chinese intelligence agent Wai Lin but they had heard no more since.

Kendall had spent three full days in the clinic in Colombia before being moved to a more comfortable hospital in New Mexico. Felix had been wary that the CIA had okayed the move and was ready for when they crossed the border for one of his superiors coming to relocate the woman to a secure facility known only to government officials. The American agent had been surprised when M had greeted them instead.

M had come to the hospital in New Mexico with two agents for an escort and had greeted Kendall and Felix in Kendall's private hospital room.

M had remarked in her usual icy fashion that she had come to see what all the fuss was about with regards to Kendall. Felix had been deeply suspicious that it was more likely that M had come to salvage his and James' screw up with Trevino and find out if Kendall could help James get him after all. Felix knew the argument amongst M's people and his had to be that Kendall had failed to give them an advantage over Trevino. Felix had been quite prepared to point out that it was Celestine who had spoiled any chance of surprising Trevino. With the traitorous French agent dead maybe now they could finally gain an advantage over Trevino.

M had shown an awareness of what all Kendall had suffered recently without directly alluding to it and she had remarked candidly that until Trevino was neutralised MI6, joint with the CIA, would kindly be asking Kendall to assist them however possible. Again Felix had braced himself for an argument, ready to snap that the woman deserved to be left the hell alone until M had continued by offering secure accommodations for the woman in Jamaica where the British Secret Service maintained a strong presence. She had advised that she strongly believed Kendall could ably aid them from there whilst remaining secure herself as there was no evidence to suggest that Trevino had a presence there. With a sharp gaze at Felix she had added that thanks to James' strong opinion that Felix was the only one capable of getting any worthwhile information out of Kendall the CIA had agreed to send their agent to Jamaica with Kendall on the agreement that she would help them stop Trevino. She had added cynically that the fear of losing a key asset like Kendall to the British had most likely swayed the CIA's decision as well.

Felix had decided to take the opportunity as a masterful stroke of luck brought about thanks to James' words with his superiors before he had left. Ever grateful that he had not been fired or at least demoted as expected and that Kendall wasn't going to spend her time in an unknown facility, once more a prisoner, Felix's mood had immediately brightened and he had even dared to give M a smile.

Three tedious weeks had followed in New Mexico with Kendall hospitalised and gradually recovering from her wounds, at least the physical ones. Felix's arm healed much quicker and he was able to spend more time out of healthcare suffering some unfortunate gruelling from his own superiors. Felix was under no illusions that he had messed up, the fact that he had not intended it didn't matter to anyone. It had been made very clear to him that there were serious doubts over his relationship with Kendall and her usefulness to them at this point. His saving grace were the wounds he had earned showing he had put up a fight, the fact that he had freed several women caught up in the sex slave trade and that thin sliver hope that Kendall could yet help them find Trevino in China. His boss had emphasised his reluctance to allow Felix to go to Jamaica, considering it an undeserved reward and grumbled that the Texan was only being permitted because American intelligence didn't want to abandon Kendall and a chance to get Trevino to the Brits.

When he had not been suffering verbal abuse and warnings from his superiors Felix had been trying to get word on James and update his intel on Trevino and his potential operations in China. Tempting as Jamaica was there was a large part of Felix itching to follow his friend to China. It was an urge subdued every time he visited the hospital and Kendall turned her fearful, swollen eyes upon him, or let out a whimper in her sleep, or winced and shook in pain when the physio got too much for her leg or she sniffed too hard and her nose plagued her with pain.

Now here they were in Jamaica, flown over by Jack Wade. It hadn't been as bumpy a flight as the last one and yet Felix had enjoyed it less as Kendall had spent it stoic and silent and ignored his urging to put on some music.

Felix had hoped the climate change might change Kendall's temperament as it had done for him but evidently he was wrong. He had felt a weight lifted from his shoulders the moment he had stepped onto the island but apparently that same weight had fallen onto her shoulders.

"This doesn't feel right," she spoke at last, voice still hoarse but getting stronger, "it's a trap, it has to be. How long can it last before he comes again? It's not safe."

Felix looked at her with pity as he realised just how deep Trevino's hooks were in her. She was terrified that his minions were just over her shoulder waiting to snatch her up for him again. Felix wanted to assure her that, that wasn't the case but he couldn't because truthfully he didn't know. Sure Trevino was presumably in China but he could have people here watching for Kendall and waiting for his orders. Would he want her killed? Would he want her kidnapped again to be made a hostage of to share yet more knowledge of the world with him? Felix thought about all Kendall had already endured under Trevino and the fact that she truly felt he was capable of worse. Worse than kidnapping, imprisonment, crocodile bites and rape? Jesus she had every right to be terrified of him if there was worse.

She pushed her hands up through her wavy dark hair forcing it back from her scalp to reveal her honey vanilla skin. Her skin tone was natural again save for where a few bruises and scarring lingered and there was a warmness to her pallor. However, her turquoise eyes had lost their shine and were eternally bloodshot and twitchy, dancing about in reaction to every suspect sound or sight nearby by. The swelling and bruising around her eyes had almost entirely cleared but she only looked a little better for it as the disturbing nature of her gaze detracted from any natural beauty she possessed.

"I should be in China," she murmured, "I should be making sure he's caught." She turned an accusing gaze on Felix. "We both should. You wanted to go, you didn't want to stay."

Felix frowned back. "I wanted to do both," he admitted quietly. "I wanted to go to China after Trevino with James but I wanted to stay with you too. James made the choice for me in the end."

"And now what's happened?" Kendall demanded. "It's been three weeks. Is James alive? Is Trevino?" She shuddered. "I hate not knowing. How can I relax here and forget? The moment I let my guard down he'll come. This...this is fake, it's temporary."

"Happiness always is," Felix murmured dryly.

Kendall shook her head. "It's not happy here."

"Not right now," Felix grumbled, his mood soured by hers. He stood up and turned from her, heading back to the open doorway Jack lingered in.

Felix stepped outside to a warm, late afternoon and glanced up at the sun through his large sunglasses.

"Are you going Jack?" he quipped calmly without glancing at his co-worker.

Jack glanced over at the blonde through his own subtler shades. "You looking rid of me Leiter?" he scoffed. "I have to refuel, wouldn't hurt to spend an evening here either." He glanced at the view before them. There was a small, rectangular pool in a square atrium formed by other apartment blocks and beside it was a round jacuzzi, on but unoccupied.

The property, known as White Crescent Bay Apartments, was a popular but expensive tourist spot with all-inclusive meals served at three restaurants, three pools, each with a jacuzzi and one with a large paddling pool, mini golf, a tennis court, a spa, a small shop of tourist gimmicks and beach merchandise, a small mart, two main bars and a nightclub. Additionally the grounds of the complex were right beside a large beach. Felix had contemplated a room with a beach view but it had seemed too exposed, this at least was enclosed.

"I don't get it," Jack complained, "you fuck up and get this, free accommodation in paradise, poolside room. I do a good job and I'm on a rota between here and the States and they're promising to send me up to New York come autumn to freeze my ass off."

Felix bristled at the accusation but did not bother with a retort, he could admit to himself if not to Jack that the older agent had a point, Felix had fucked up.

"Course," Jack continued, "you do have to share it with missy, poor girl, hurt like that and you're still keeping her in this mess. If it was Bond he'd be in there with some good looking woman drinking those damn martinis and having a great time but it's you Felix." He let out a loud, mocking laugh at this.

"Thanks Wade," Felix muttered under his breath. He didn't bother pointing out that he had wanted Kendall out of this mess but until Trevino was dead she wouldn't be safe. This was a compromise, keeping her at a distance from China and presumably Trevino whilst having her guarded and safe under the watchful eye of the CIA and MI6.

"Anyway," Felix continued calmly, "I just wanted to know if you were staying."

Jack looked at Felix curiously but Felix kept his gaze forward and carefully guarded. "Why?" he queried. "And staying where exactly? In this complex? Or just on the island?"

Felix suppressed a sigh. He knew Jack was purposely trying to drag it out of him, get a confession from the Texan that he actually wanted Jack nearby. 'Not for me,' he thought moodily, 'for her because she knows him. She might feel better if someone she knows is at the door. Or maybe she won't,' he dipped his head in a moment of irritation, 'she doesn't seem happy to have me near.'

"Can you stay near?" Felix queried. "Can you help with the surveillance here?"

Jack grinned over at Felix. "Sure thing Leiter."

"Good, stay at the door for now?"

Jack nodded agreeably and ran his right hand across his sweaty brow. "For now," he murmured, "until I can't stick the heat." He glanced about the small porch before moving to a chair in the shade, it was identical to the one Kendall occupied inside. Jack sat on it and it gave a loud, warning creak. He dug into it when it didn't give way before grumbling curses about how uncomfortable it was.

Felix turned from his fellow secret agent wordlessly. He supposed dryly that at least Jack wasn't obvious as a guard, once again his summer styled look helped him blend right in with his surroundings. It had the blonde wondering if Jack was better at his career that it seemed, he had to conclude that there was a reason Jack Wade was still thriving in the CIA and it couldn't just be dumb luck.

Felix headed back into the apartment, pulling the door closed behind him as he did. It was cooler inside but not to the point of being durable. "Do you mind if I turned the air con on?" Felix asked calmly.

Kendall didn't bother with an answer. She remained on the chair, still hunched up though her tears had ceased.

Felix moved to the small, pale wooden coffee table on which several remote controls sat. He plucked up the remote for the air con. He pointed it at the system, which was high up in the wall, and turned it on before selecting the second setting. The blonde gave a sigh of relief at the whirring noise that followed before he placed the remote back on the table.

"I'm going to order drinks, do you want anything?" Felix queried. Again there was no answer. Felix did not press the issue but headed to the phone beside the couch behind the coffee table and hit the number '1' for room service. He ordered two gin based martinis with ice and a twist of lemon. Satisfied with that he headed into the bathroom.

Kendall didn't move from her position until the door was knocked and a voice called, "room service", then she flinched and looked to the door accusingly. She hated being jumpy but she was afraid to be calm, afraid that if she relaxed for just a moment that would be the moment Trevino's men reared their heads and attacked. She knew it was paranoia but she couldn't help it, she felt vulnerable, she was in an unfamiliar area and plagued with a limp, stiff muscles, and fatigue that came from a lack of sleep. She was desperate to shake it off, to get a weapon and assure herself that if anyone did come she could handle it but she wasn't sure she could. She had been fooled by Celestine and that made her unsure of herself, of her ability to read people, to trust them.

The door knocked again, a little more impatiently this time.

Kendall looked to the closed bathroom door accusingly. Where was Felix? He'd ordered the drinks after all. Couldn't he hear the door? What good would he be then if they were attacked? The bathroom door opened and Felix exited, shades finally off and hanging loosely by one stem in his front, cream linen shirt pocket. His sleeves were up to his elbows and a sheen of sweat coated his skin. He shut the door behind him hastily before heading to the front door. He opened it to greet a young, attractive, dark skinned waitress who entered with a small trolley that seemed quite unnecessary for two drinks.

Felix looked at the trolley with a mild suspicion before concluding that it was simply the policy of the complex to deliver room service with a trolley no matter how small the order. He determined that if the woman had been questionable Jack would have stopped her. He hunted his wallet out of his trouser pocket and searched through it for a sufficient tip. It took a while to find Jamaican dollars amongst the American. Sure American dollars were generally acceptable here but Felix would rather give the woman native currency he knew she would have no trouble using. He dismissed her and her trolley with a polite smile, a brief word of thanks and a decent tip after she had placed the two glasses on the coffee table.

Once the maid was gone Felix picked up one glass and held it out to Kendall. "Come on, I've made you up a bath," he informed her.

Kendall looked up at him curiously and the beginnings of a refusal crept into her gaze.

"Now don't refuse it," Felix said sternly, "it took more effort on my part than you think making it nice for you. Jack is outside the door," he added with a nod to the front door, "the complex has been checked and we have other agents nearby. I'll stay right at the bathroom door too for the whole time if you'd like."

Kendall finally lowered her legs and stood up to accept the glass by the thin stem in her left hand. "Okay," she gave in, in a soft voice. She turned from him and headed into the bathroom, there was a little steam in the room but evidently Felix had ran the water lukewarm knowing that in this heat, even with the rooms cooler than outside, a warm bath might be sickening.

Kendall took a sip of the martini before placing it on the surface behind the bath where the complimentary lotions and moistures of the complex sat. The bath had been prepared with a tad too many bubbles but she didn't mind. She stripped off slowly, glad to get rid of her sweat stained garments, before she slid into the water and let out a pleasurable sigh. For a long while she had forgotten how it felt to be cleansed in this relaxing fashion.

True to his word Felix held a vigil outside the bathroom door. One ankle crossed over the other as he propped himself up against the wall beside the door and sipped at his own drink eagerly. Once he had finished it he chewed the lemon rind thoughtfully, enjoying the bitterness as he contemplated dinner. When he grew uncomfortable he shifted into a new pose but despite his stiffness he did not abandon his post.

Minutes trickled into half an hour and then three quarters of an hour before Kendall finally emerged. She exited wrapped up in a large, white, fluffy, cotton towel, hair down and free, damp and straight, glistening black like a raven's pelt. Her cheeks were flushed with the heat and her skin shone golden with water droplets and her eyes, whilst bloodshot, finally held a hint of peace in them.

She stopped and turned to face Felix who remained against the wall. She gave him a serious stare, her turquoise irises almost burning into his grey gaze. When she let the towel drop to the wooden floorboards a glimmer of surprise brightened Felix's eyes.

She stepped up to the Texan agent quickly, her right hand reaching up to weave through his blonde waves whilst her left hand tugged his shirt out from his trousers and reached under it to press against the soft flesh at his stomach. She stretched up to kiss him and he welcomed it agreeably.

At first Felix stayed tense against the wall, certain the gesture would be chaste, a brief spark of passion in the heat of the moment that she would end quickly. When her left hand instead grabbed his right and brought it up to cradle her breast he abandoned chasteness for the sudden hunger that raced up inside him.

It didn't take much to get Felix hard and ready, he supposed it had been a while and maybe his body had grown just a little impatient for some action from the fairer sex. When Kendall reached for his belt and then the button at his trousers his excitement only grew and when she sank to her knees he had to wonder for a brief moment if he was in a dream. Had he been fired and created this delusion to cope with it? When Kendall drew him into her mouth he let out a groan and decided that if it was a fantasy it was a damn good one and the best thing to do was go along with it.

* * *

Hong Kong, China

James surveyed the sprawling metropolis before him with a hint of woe. All too recently it had passed from British hands back to the Chinese, a deserved victory for them but another bitter blow to the crumbling British empire. He had expected a form of tension on the streets due to it but largely the people did not care, the Chinese sovereignty was evident but a respectful British presence stayed and oddly that made him feel safe.

"You look sad," Wai Lin commented softly in his left ear as she joined him on the balcony.

James glanced over his shoulder at her. The petite Chinese agent looked lovelier than he remembered but he supposed he was seeing her at home and a little more relaxed. She was out of the black leather he recalled with fondness and in light denim, skinny jeans, a sleeveless, cream, silk vest top, a brown, suede cropped jacket that hung open, and high heeled, plain sandals that boosted her height a little. Her hair hung free in long, dark curls and her make-up was subtle, a light dusting of bronze at her dark, ovular eyes and a shimmer of gloss, she didn't need anymore.

"Just thinking of all the losses we've had over the years," James explained.

"We?" Wai looked out at the city viewpoint below them and then turned her attention back to James with a teasing smile. "Ah the humility of the British, you consider when someone takes back what's rightfully theirs from you that it's a loss." She did not wait for James' response but instead dug out a crumpled envelope out of her inner jacket pocket. "This came for you a while ago," she said ominously as she held it out to him. "They sent it to the British Consulate here in Hong Kong and of course everyone was immediately suspicious of it and rather than let you or me know about it they kept it for a few weeks instead. No one knows where it came from or how it was delivered to the consulate without proper postage marks, somehow it just got sneaked in with the regular post."

James tensed as he accepted the envelope. It was torn and sloppily sealed several times over with stickers and tags on it noting who all had taken a look at it and its contents. It was marked for James Bond, calligraphy in black ink with no other writing. He opened it at the top, tearing through a seal as he did. He found a single scrap of paper inside with very little writing on it in the same calligraphy the envelope had been marked in. The paper read 'I know where my navigator is.'

"What does it say?" Wai pried.

James exhaled a curse. "Has MI6 been informed?" he queried frostily.

Wai shook her head. "I don't think so, our government doesn't really fancy playing too nice with yours, our alliance right now is all the good faith they're willing to show and even that is purely because we helped each other in the past, it looks good on the surface."

"Do you know how long ago this arrived?" James demanded.

"I was told almost three weeks ago, probably just after you arrived here in China."

James emitted another curse before he hastened back through the open balcony doors. "I need to make a call," he grumbled.

* * *

 _Guess who else I love from the Bond movies that seems to have fans divided? Wai Lin! I love Michelle Yeoh in general she's kick ass on screen and off. I read that some people didn't buy the chemistry between her and Pierce Brosnan, to that I say check out the pics of them off the film, they definitely have chemistry! I think the film just didn't really allow for it, every scene with them was an action scene and the kiss at the end seemed tacked on and let's face it all the heated sexiness came between Paris and James, that was going to be hard to top. I still think James and Wai Lin were good together. The only reason she and Jinx are put in damsel situations despite being equal agents to Bond is because Bond always has to been seen saving the girl. Course this is all just my opinion :-)_

 _As always many thanks for the favs and reviews!_


	13. Chapter 13- Trouble in Paradise

Felix Leiter headed up to the main reception desk of the apartment complex with a calm stare. He was a little frustrated, it was mid-afternoon and he had just been about to take Kendall into the nearby town for lunch and a change of scenery when he had been informed of the call. He couldn't be too angry however as according to the hotel boy who had alerted him to the call the caller had claimed to be 'a friend from England'. The blonde hesitated in approaching the desk as he wondered if James knew what name he was booked under in the complex, surely he must've been informed of that when he had gotten the complex name and number. He stepped up to the pretty young receptionist and said, "Mr. Carter, I believe you have a call waiting for me."

The woman's large, brown eyes looked up from the magazine occupying her attention and she blinked at him in confusion. "No call," she said with a shake of her head.

Felix frowned as he rested his hands on the edge of the marble surface of the desk. "Any calls waiting?" he quipped.

She shook her head again. "I've no calls on hold for anyone," she explained.

Felix tensed and turned from the woman abruptly with a curse. It was a stupid ruse! 'Kendall,' he thought with a pang of alarm. He moved in a run leaving the receptionist to gawk after him in puzzlement.

It took Felix a precious ten minutes to hasten his way through the maze of complexes and pools and reach his own apartment again. He had been prompted to weave through numerous small crowds of tourists enjoying the delicious afternoon sun by the bars and pools and had managed to push a towel boy dangerously close to the edge of a pool and send the drinks of a waitress crashing clumsily to the ground. He had ignored it all thinking only of what he might be arriving back to.

BANG!

The Texan's heart skipped a beat with the sound of the gunshot. His own Browning was already out and had prompted at least one security guard to begin a slow pursuit of him, now he had it raised in anticipation with the safety off.

BANG! BANG!

Felix became aware of the sound of screams and yells that accompanied the gunshots. He rounded a corner and met with a scene of chaos. Guests were moving in an obvious direction away from where his apartment lay, some had stumbled into the pool in their haste and were now splashing about frantically half in hysterics.

Jack was on his knees barely sheltered by his chair, which was splintered in several patches. His hat had fallen on its side and there were blood spatters on the patio hinting at injuries. Two other men lay still, one had blood staining his linen shirt and a gun shone black beneath the sun in his right hand whilst another had a gory death wound in his brow. A third was alive and ready to take another shot at Jack.

BANG! Felix fired first without hesitating.

The third foe fell dead with a surprised yelp as the bullet struck him cleanly from behind through the neck, whizzing out his throat in a bloody hole. He fell quickly as he bled out.

"Where is she Jack?!" Felix snapped as he hurried up to the door.

"Inside," Jack choked out. "They came from the back too."

"Shit." Felix reached the door, dropped to a crouch and pulled it open.

When no gunfire came Felix took a chance and peered into the room, moving his gun about hastily as he attempted to adjust to the dimmer lighting. He heard the yells and it took all the willpower he had not to move in a blind panic. The cries were coming from the kitchen area.

A grisly scene greeted the CIA agent when he rounded the corner and entered through the open doorway into the kitchen. A man was dead and another was dying whilst two others were attempting to subdue Kendall. Felix focused on those two, his pale grey eyes darting about carefully seeking a clean shot, the last thing he wanted was to hurt Kendall in the crossfire.

One man was grabbing her from behind, twisting her right arm behind her back as he raised a bloodstained chef's knife in the direction of her throat whilst the other man was at her front and receiving a painful double kick to his shin bones.

BANG! Felix eliminated the second attacker when he stumbled back from Kendall's feet. The bullet hit him from the side, penetrating into his skull just above his left ear lobe.

The first attacker froze and looked over at Felix in a moment of surprise. It was all the distraction Kendall needed. She elbowed him hard in the stomach with her right arm whilst pushing back the hand with the knife with her left. As the man doubled over with a grunt of pain Kendall hurried forward from him.

BANG! Felix finished the man off with a bullet just above his nose. It wasn't pretty as the entry wound cut through cartilage and bone leaving an unpleasant mess on the man's face as he hit the ground knees first before slumping to one side.

Felix looked to the other two men. One had a sliced throat whilst the other, who had finished dying during the debacle, bore three deep stab wounds to his chest. Felix turned his attention back to Kendall. "Anyone else?" he queried icily.

Kendall shook her head quickly before stumbling back over the man Felix had first shot. "I don't know," she retorted miserably as she looked to the body and winced. She looked to the two who had been killed with a knife and wretched at the strong metallic stench of fresh blood.

"Wait here," Felix ordered. He stepped out of the small kitchen area, satisfied that the doorway he moved away from was the only point of entry to the room. He forced himself to use stealth over speed to check the remaining rooms just in case someone had thought to hide in them. Both bedrooms and bathrooms were clear. He returned to Jack who was in a seated position on the porch, hat back on his head and a hand clutching at a bloody gunshot wound on his upper left thigh whilst he scowled up at a security guard and argued with him. Satisfied that Jack was going to live, Felix returned to Kendall.

Kendall had backed up against the cream wall, her skin was turning a sickly shade of grey and she looked close to vomiting. Her spooked turquoise gaze darted over to Felix and she shivered. He noticed that her exposed flesh was coated in goosebumps despite the overwhelming heat in the room.

Felix holstered his gun and hurried over to the young woman. He took care to avoid the bodies and blood spill and stiffened himself to stench of death in humidity.

"He's never going to give up," she choked out with another shake of her head. She held out her hands and only then did Felix notice the blood soaking them and the front of her grey vest top.

The blonde's grey gaze brightened with shock as the obvious dawned on him at the grisly sight, Kendall had killed the two men with the knife.

"Red again," she murmured, "all this red, it doesn't go away." She slid down against the wall slowly until she was seated on the floor with her knees raised in a defensive manner. "He's made me into everything I hate. I gave him the routes, because of me he can sell drugs to children, trade women like cattle and spread his violence around the world like cancer." She pushed her bloodstained hands up into her hair and let out a shriek. "I've killed because of him, I've murdered people. God all this blood." She quivered again before dropping her hands and turning sharply to the left to throw up. "It's stinks," she moaned as the vomit turned to a slow trickle of watery yellow bile, "all this blood, it stinks."

Felix waited until the retching had subsided into whimpers and then he took a seat beside her, back against the wall and legs stretched out before him. He frowned in distaste when his left shoe brushed up against the stiffening arm of a corpse. He reached his left arm over Kendall, sliding it across her shoulders before his hand gripped her left shoulder and he tugged her down to rest against his own. His hand crept up to her tangled, obsidian locks and he weaved his fingers through her hair absent-mindedly, tensing only slightly when he felt the remnants of sticky blood in it.

The blonde didn't say anything, there was nothing to say. Sorry sure as hell didn't cut it at this point. It'll be alright had proved to be a God damn lie too many times now. It's okay was an even bigger lie along with 'we'll fix this', 'I'll keep you safe' and 'it won't happen again'. The woman was soaked in blood, four corpses were spoiling before them in the hot summer air, Jack was injured and any minute now hotel security was going to come in and give them hell before the local police were summoned to make everything ten times worse.

"I want to go to China," Kendall spoke up suddenly, her voice shaky but serious.

"Don't be crazy," Felix chided gently.

"No Felix I mean it," she protested in a stronger voice. She pulled back from him to sit upright and meet his stare with her own firm look. "I've been moved around and shadowed by the CIA and MI6 but he still found me. He's determined and until I'm dead or he is it won't stop."

"Bond's in China to kill him," Felix reminded her.

"Bond doesn't know him," she argued. "He keeps coming after me and I'm so sick of being weak and scared. I need to go to him."

"Kendall you're still injured and you can't even run," Felix pointed out.

"Which makes me an easy kill no matter where I am," she retorted quietly as she bowed her head. She shuddered again and another whimper followed. "Oh God Felix I am so, so scared and I can't keep going like this, I can't. Let me go to China, let me at least try."

Felix sighed. "And if he captures you there? If he tortures you and tries to kill you again, what then?"

"Oh what the hell do you care anyway?" she snapped savagely, catching him off guard. "You don't even know me, not really! All this is just a terrible ploy to keep me endeared to your stupid agency!"

"What?" He looked back at her calmly, mildly insulted by her implication. "Kendall you're the one who initiated the other day," he remarked candidly. "Not that I was unappreciative mind."

"That was the point," she grumbled as she dipped her head to hide a sullen expression.

Felix reached out to her, his right hand slipping under her chin and tilting her head back up to spy her sorrowful gaze. "What do you mean?" he demanded as anger crept up on the edges of his dove grey irises.

She blinked hard to banish the pain in her eyes and turn her gaze cold. Felix might have bought it if he hadn't seen the pain first. "To give you a reason to want to keep me safe," she confessed miserably. "To keep you interested in protecting me I suppose."

Felix exhaled angrily. "Kendall I'm not like that," he scorned her.

"How could I be certain?" she demanded.

"How can I?" Felix mused aloud without meaning to. He released her chin and actually looked slightly embarrassed. "Kendall I'll be blunt, I like you and I thought you liked me too but if you don't that's fine, I'll still help you. Just...don't initiate something you don't mean."

"How can you like me?" she asked quietly. "You don't know me."

"Sure I do," he assured with a faint smile. "I know you absolutely hate getting dressed up for dinner because you have no palette for it and you have no interest in fashion. I know you were distant from your sister because you were so different but that you were deeply devoted to her all the same and you feel guilty for not being there when she was killed. I know you have this reckless side that you had to subdue when Trevino had you, that before him you were probably a lot of fun because I keep getting glimpses of that woman, the one who doesn't care, who slides down bannisters and runs barefoot into the ocean in the middle of the night in a dress." His smile widened. "The one who demands that two secret service agents take her to a God damn fast food restaurant like they've nothing better to do not because she wants fast food but because she wants to screw with them because it's been a long, long time since she's been able to have that kind of harmless fun with someone and she wants to test them as well."

Kendall looked startled at the accusation and her cheeks darkened a little.

"I know you're brave, braver than you give yourself credit for to withstand two years of hell. I know you think you gave in but you didn't, you survived Kendall because you are a survivor. Now that's what I know about you and what I like. Well, I know you like the colour yellow as well but I don't, it's vile."

Kendall opened her mouth to give a reply but they were interrupted by hotel security and the police at last.

Felix raised his hands wearily and Kendall did the same. "Timing is everything," Felix grumbled.

* * *

It took hours before James was finally able to get a direct line to Leiter. It was close to ten in the morning local time before the English spy accomplished it. By then he was tired and hungry, he had been on the phone for close to three hours now, verbally wading through red tape, coded calls and untapped lines as he went from agent to agent and then to M. M had left him on the line with Moneypenny whilst she got in touch with Leiter's superiors first. This had resulted in a delay for close to an hour during which James knew there had to have been trouble. The casual flirtation between James and M's secretary had grown stale by the time M came back on the phone to confirm James' fears. Trevino had gotten to Kendall and Felix before James could warn them of the message.

James had been relieved to learn that whilst Kendall and Jack Wade had been hurt it had all been minor and everyone that mattered was safe. A delay in getting to safe house had followed as the local police, unwilling to believe that Jack and Felix were CIA agents, had rounded them and Kendall up and put them in the temporary confines of a police station jail cell until their identities had been confirmed by Washington. Even at that they had been less than happy to let Kendall, a perceived civilian, go until M had offered up some official reassurances of her own to go alongside Washington's. Shortly after Kendall and Felix had finally been ushered to a safe house but James knew that could only be temporary.

Now, at long last, James had Felix on the phone to give him the details that M wouldn't because she felt it was unnecessary for James to know them.

"Evening James," Felix's voice greeted him tiredly.

"Morning," James answered cordially.

Felix paused, slow on the uptake in his weariness, before he realised there was approximately a thirteen hour time difference between him and James. "Right, to you," he muttered. "Where are you right now?"

"Hong Kong, specifically in a hideout of the Chinese People's External Security Force enjoying their facilities." James gave his office surroundings an appreciative glance, it was only a minor sample of the technology China's security forces had to offer but he was impressed. His dark blue gaze fell on the wooden door that led outside the office with a single, thin, glass panel giving a glimpse of the corridor outside. Wai Lin was no longer lingering there, having given him privacy as promised. He was grateful for it, he hadn't seen her in so long and here he was invading her territory and already exploiting her resources so soon and yet she helped, gladly with a soft smile and a fierceness to her brown gaze that promised him aid in finishing off Trevino whether he asked for it or not.

"Have you found him yet?" Felix demanded sharply.

"No," James confessed reluctantly. "He sent a note to me when I arrived but thanks to some imbeciles and their red tape I only got it, it said he knew where his navigator was."

There was a brief moment of silence before Felix answered, as if he was contemplating something. "Damn he really does have eyes everywhere," he muttered.

"What do you mean?" James pried, hoping to get to the truth of the matter at last.

"He sent you that note when we were in New Mexico but his men hit us in Jamaica. Jesus James how could he possibly know? And we had men on the island to stay guard, course I still fell for a stupid phone call at the desk ruse." He cursed rapidly in frustration.

"Alright Felix," James interrupted, "M said she wasn't badly hurt."

"No," Felix sneered, "maybe not physically but it all adds up James. Anyway, you didn't call for this, you could've gotten all this from M, why did you finally ring?" The Texan's voice was full of suspicion but James couldn't blame him, he had every reason for it.

"Where is Kendall?" James queried.

"Here."

"With you?" James asked, making his disapproval clear in his voice.

"Yes James, with me," Felix affirmed in a stubborn voice.

James sighed, he wasn't in the mood to bicker with Felix over relationships, he could hardly lecture anyone about that tender topic anyway. "Can I talk to her?"

"Why? Think she can give you some route of his over the phone?"

"Perhaps."

"Nix James, she says she doesn't know his Chinese routes well enough, that he never took her there. However, she thinks she can figure it out in person. She has an idea how his mind works."

"In person?" James echoed with unease.

"Yep, she wants to go to China."

"What the hell for? Some haphazard revenge mission? Felix she was hospitalised when I left and it might have been weeks but I can't believe she's fully recovered and even if she has she's hardly trained."

"She spent two years with him," Felix reminded him darkly, "she's trained."

"You're actually considering this?" James queried in disbelief. "Felix I can't pretend to know all the gory details of what happened to her up on the mountain but I can make a good guess," he added angrily, "she was in her underwear after all with bruising forming inside her legs and when we were Colombia I heard the comments in the hospital. Do you want a repeat of that? Does she?"

"No James I don't," Felix answered flatly. "I want her safe, more than that I want her free but that's never going to happen while he lives and she isn't safe away from him so may as well be near him trying to make a difference."

"You've already given into this haven't you?" James queried coolly.

"Already bought the plane tickets," Felix answered with some bitter humour slipping into his voice.

"Course you have. Fine, when do you get here?"

"We leave in the morning, gonna take over half a day to travel so sometime in the evening I'd imagine, well more for you isn't it?"

"I'll make arrangements to meet you and the girl."

"Good and we can all pray in the meantime that either you'll find and kill him before that or when we do arrive Kendall will be able to figure something out that takes us to him to finish this once and for all."

"Right, well bye then Felix. Unless you're going to let me speak with her? Maybe I could talk her out of this madness."

"Nope, she's just gone to sleep," Felix retorted quietly.

"Felix are you and her..." James trailed off, unsure if he even wanted to know.

"Yep James," he answered frankly, "it's a mess for our kind of work, I know. You're never supposed to actually like the woman but there you have it, I like her."

"Dangerous Felix."

"I know. Bye James."

"One more thing," James commented swiftly, "is this about finishing the mission or putting the girl at ease?"

"Bye James," came the stern response before the phone went dead.

James hung up the phone for the final time of the morning, he hoped, stood up from the office chair and a gave a much desired stretch of his arms. He regretted leaving Felix behind now, imaging that if his friend was here with him none of this business with Kendall would have happened. Of course he knew that wasn't true, Trevino would have sent his men after her just as he had and more than likely she would be dead. Still, if it meant Felix didn't have feelings for her James supposed coldly that that could have been preferable. What if she came to China and got herself killed here? How would Felix handle it if he had feelings for the girl? Liked, such an odd word to choose, James imagined it was stronger than liking the girl. He liked the women he bedded, it wasn't all physical attraction, but he wasn't going to let it go so far as to have them become a distraction or a burden.

James thought frostily of Celestine. Hadn't he liked her? Not enough that he would have spared her if he had gotten a chance to avenge her treachery but just enough that when he had seen Felix shoot her down there had been an unpleasant twinge of something. He was no more a robot than Felix, he felt when he slept with a woman, perhaps it was only for that brief moment that he felt anything for her but something was better than nothing. It wasn't like he just forgot them all either even if he moved on.

James could still recall Natalya's vanilla scent and silky smooth skin. She had been fierce, a fiery personality in the cute package of an attractive office worker. A woman thrust into violence thanks to a co-worker's betrayal. She had not deserved the bad turn life had given her but she had dealt with it admirably. At the time James had been fond of her but fondness couldn't create anything substantial and in the end he had left her, knowing it was for the best and knowing she knew it too. Natalya wasn't cut out for his way of life and their passion had come from the heat of the moment.

James' thoughts shifted to his current ally Wai Lin. Another woman he hadn't forgotten. How could anyone forget Wai Lin? She was a formidable spy, a Colonel nonetheless and just as tough, savvy and fearless as James. Hell she was just as charming and sarcastic as him too, as deadly with her words as she was with her fists. James didn't think he could match her and her resistance to his flirtations had only strengthened his desire of her. He had thought the passion would fade when they had finally become lovers but instead the opposite had occurred. The burning desire for her had grown worse to the point that he had forced himself to leave and return to his work after their brief liaison together after the Carver fiasco.

To this day James was uncertain how Wai felt about him in return. Was he just as desirable to her still? Had the fire burned out for her? Had it even burned that strong? Her cool demeanour gave nothing away. That was Wai's nature, she smiled and teased but she kept her real feelings hidden, trained to do so like every good spy knowing that a mask of indifference was an advantage and feelings were a weakness. James wondered angrily why the hell Felix had suddenly decided to forget that. It wasn't as if Kendall was that attractive, sure she had looks but she paled in comparison to her stunning sister, and she lacked charm. Brutalised by Trevino, she was a shifty, paranoid, mistrustful and mistrusting individual and whilst James couldn't blame her for any of that he certainly couldn't understand why she interested Felix.

Frustrated, the English agent finally exited the office to the corridor. He sealed the door tightly shut behind him and headed up the corridor where he hoped Wai would be waiting for him. He found the Chinese agent in a larger office with several screens before her as she typed rapidly on a keyboard. He flinched to see a grainy photograph that bore a vague resemblance to Trevino. "Is that a recent sighting?" he queried hopefully.

"Well it's hard to identify from that picture," Wai retorted, "but that particular man was sighted exiting off a junk boat in Hong Kong three days ago."

James studied the picture curiously. The man was approximately six feet tall, swarthy skinned with dark hair and dressed in a cream, linen business suit. "I think it's him," he said confidently.

"Did you meet him for long?" Wai pried as she looked up at James curiously.

"A few minutes I suppose," he answered gruffly.

"And why are you both still alive?" she queried with a teasing smile to take the sting from her accusation.

"I had him in my sights," James admitted bitterly, "but Felix and the girl, Kendall, were in trouble." He sighed. "I should have shot him."

"Would Felix and Kendall have survived if you had?" Wai asked gently.

"I can't know for certain but I don't think so." James thought back to that moment, in his mind it passed so terribly slowly but he had to remind himself that in reality it had all happened in a flash. He recalled Felix's yelling, the desperation in his friend's voice that let James know he was in real trouble, the knowledge that Felix had gone into the unknown depths of death after Kendall, James' frustration at all and his desperation not to lose yet another girl especially so soon after Celestine's sudden demise.

Wai stood up and looked up at him with a serious, brown stare. "True friends like Felix are hard to find and harder to keep, you had a difficult choice."

James nodded agreeably. Wai wouldn't say he had made the right choice or the wrong one because she couldn't know that, no one could. He appreciated her words of comfort and appreciated even more that she wasn't willing to soothe him with lies.

"I'm hungry," James remarked eagerly with a small smile, "how about you take me to breakfast and show me the sights? You can let me know all about this sighting as well." He gestured to the grainy image with one finger.

"Sharing intelligence unofficially with a corrupt Western authority," she scorned him with a mocking shake of her head, "you don't ask much James."


	14. Chapter 14-One Way Ticket

They were being followed. Felix realised it ten minutes into their walk to find James and Wai. They had arrived in China, touching down in Hong Kong airport about two hours ago. After using what little influence the CIA had allowed Felix to, to get them through customs, they had taken a taxi into the heart of the metropolis and were now finishing their journey to James and Wai on foot. Felix and Kendall had a single, small luggage bag in hand, packed in haste with only the essentials. They both bore dark circles under their eyes but despite their fatigue from jet lag from a very long flight from the States to China they appeared very alert as they moved through the crowded streets.

Felix couldn't be certain when they following had started. Had they followed them in the car or only now picked up the trail? He glanced in the mirrored glass of a shop front behind him and spied two men faintly reflected in it. They were behind four others, walking and could perhaps be considered simple travellers. Felix directed Kendall to turn sharply to the right to cross a single lane road. It gave the Texan a chance to glance in the men's direction without being too obvious. They were both Hispanic, Mexican he'd wager, one small and lean with an ugly, cross face with a prominent white scar slicing down his left cheek and the second taller and muscular with the build of a fighter, oily black hair sleeked back against his scalp with gel and wiry moustache budding on his upper lip.

They crossed the road and Felix was forced to look ahead in an attempt to be discreet. It wasn't just about not alerting the men, he didn't want to panic Kendall either. She moved slow alongside him, laboured by her limp though she refused to admit the leg was giving her any trouble. Felix mentally cursed himself for bringing her here and hoped he was just being paranoid. He looked up at the dark blue glass of a modern cafe and glimpsed the two Mexicans almost behind him now as they stood up onto the kerb. He wasn't being paranoid then.

Felix directed them to the right when it should have been left. Kendall looked up at him quizzically. 'Well of course she bloody knows the route's wrong,' the blonde thought despairingly. For a good chunk of the flight she had sat studying maps of China, provided by a MI6 minion on behalf of M. Washington had been against the trip but MI6 had supported it, they wanted Trevino at any cost. A message from M had suggested coldly that they had gained nothing from giving Kendall sanctuary and that it was time she showed her worth. Washington had simply voiced angrily that Felix either came back to tell them Trevino was neutralised or didn't come back at all.

"Keep going," Felix murmured quietly to Kendall. They were discovered then, he couldn't lead them to James and Wai. They needed to the pair and fast but Kendall couldn't do fast. He glimpsed a sign for the train station and gave a tight grin. Kendall couldn't do fast on foot.

Everywhere they looked there were skyscrapers and tower blocks, it was a suffocating maze of glass and metal, breathtaking and intimidating all at once. The streets were full of people and yet try as they might, Felix and Kendall could not lose their pursuers amongst the crowds. Felix supposed dryly that as a tall, blonde Westerner, it wasn't exactly hard for them to spot him. Still, he tried the usual trick of ducking into the entrance of a shop and out its exit but twenty minutes later as he dared to slow their pace as they moved round a fountain he glimpsed their pursuers once more.

Felix couldn't understand how they kept finding them and neither could Kendall, who had followed the blonde's stare through the jets of water and paled at the sight of two men she knew were not tourists.

It was another tiresome half hour of darting about the metropolis before they finally made it to the train station. It was hiving with activity as natives and tourists alike bustled to and fro from platform to platform through numerous gates, moving in a busy but organised fashion.

Satisfied that they had finally lost their pursuers in the busy streets of Hong Kong, Felix directed them to the desk and bought multiple tickets, no easy feat with the language barrier.

They waited in a group of people three rows back from the edge of the platform for a train, trying to be inconspicuous. Given that Felix was a tall, blonde Texan this was no easy task. Felix wanted to call James but he was wary of drawing any more attention to himself and he didn't want to worry the English agent or contact him until he knew what the hell they were doing. He didn't even know where the train was going to take them, he just needed them to be away.

Kendall filled with relief when the train finally rolled up to the platform. Its doors opened and it unleashed a throng of people before granting entry to the waiting crowd. She and Felix crowded on with everyone else, avoiding seats as both were reluctant to be restrained that way.

As the train headed off Felix relaxed just a little before he began guiding Kendall towards the back of the train. His ease vanished in an instant when he glimpsed in the reflection of the window one of their pursuers. The man stood out as one of the few non-Chinese people on board the train, five feet seven, he was the one with oily black hair sleeked back against his scalp. He looked annoyed and a little out of breath, evidently he had only just made the train. Felix did not alert Kendall to the man and instead moved slowly as if they were simply looking for a seat not trying to evade someone. His grey gaze darted back and forth from looking to the doors ahead to the next carriage to the window that offered a faint reflection. The man was not alone, of course they never were, Felix made out the other man with the scar and wondered if it was just the two who had been following them all this time.

Kendall slipped through the double door passage to the next carriage and paused.

"Keep going," Felix murmured quietly in her ear, "it'll be better at the back."

Kendall obeyed, walking backwards as the train moved forwards, finding it slightly disorienting. It was a large train with a storage carriage at the back specifically for large luggage such as suitcases. It carried a mixture of people- office workers, teenagers, eager travellers, a few perplexed foreigners and other foreigners who looked like they fitted right in. It was easy to spot the tourists from the people who lived here. Kendall glanced at the teenagers curiously and wondered if it was a weekend or a holiday. She had stopped trying to keep track of days and dates a long time ago, now she wondered what all she had missed out on over those lost years.

Felix regarded the young folk with a hint of envy. He was in his mid-thirties now and starting to feel the pressures of age creep up on him. Things like this had been alright ten years ago when he was young enough to dumbly think himself immortal, full of energy and the wiles and cockiness of youth. Now he was slower to move and it took longer for his body to recover from fights. The couples in particular interested him- it was a life he had never considered or thought to desire, the young ones he and James had usually jested about and pitied, how foolish to settle for just one person so soon and deprive yourself of enjoying anyone else in the world! Now he wondered if he had been wrong about that, if maybe those couples in their naivety, hopeful of happiness before the bitterness of reality dragged them down, had the right idea after all.

Kendall paused at the doors to the luggage carriage and looked at Felix once more. He put his back to the doors and fiddled with the handle and lock behind him. Of course it was policy to hand your luggage off to a train worker to be loaded into the carriage safely and then to go and make sure you got it unloaded again. It just wouldn't do to have passengers freely wandering in and out of the carriage unobserved, too many thieves and all that. With a little help from a lockpick Felix triggered the lock and the doors slid free.

"Quick now," he muttered as he stepped back into the carriage.

Once Kendall was in Felix tugged the doors shut again. The carriage was dim, only emergency lighting was needed and even that wasn't helping much. Felix directed Kendall to the very back where another door stood. This door was padlocked, a single door to the outside world, the third and final exit from the carriage was at the side where the door lifted up with the press of a button to grant easy access to the bags. Felix ignored the side door and freed the padlock instead, just in case. 'In case what,' he thought in irritation, 'we need to climb up on the roof?'

The Texan moved down low to a seated position, pulling Kendall with him as he did. He silenced his phone, tugged out his Browning for good measure and fixed his gaze on the doors they had come through. The train was hurrying along at a fast pace, a good pace he supposed though he had no idea how long it was until their next stop.

Kendall didn't say a word, she knew from Felix's gestures that their pursuers had to be onboard. Her chest was tight with fear, her heart was beating hard and fast, and her entire body was tense beside the Texan. She stayed close against him wishing she had a weapon too. His Browning had barely passed customs, there was no chance that she could have gotten a knife through.

It took only five minutes before their uneasy anticipation was ended.

BANG!

Felix let off a shot with his gun as the doors were forced open but the bullet missed, hitting the edge of the sliding door causing a loud ringing noise to echo throughout the carriage.

Felix jumped to his feet, teeth gritted, gun raised and eyes narrowed as he took aim. There was a click. The blonde looked at his gun in horror. It had jammed!

The Mexicans wasted no time in taking advantage, closing the distance between them and the Texan. One reached for the gun whilst another delivered a painful kick to Felix's stomach.

A third man, short and slim, addressed the curious passengers first before shutting the double doors and smiling into the carriage with a sneer.

Kendall was on her feet now and she wasted no time in punching low and hard at the man with the scar. Just as he lowered his foot after dealing Felix a kick to the stomach Kendall rewarded him with a punch to his lower regions. The man doubled over with a gasp and a squeal of pain.

Felix let out a wild yell of surprised agony when the man with the moustache produced a dagger and drove it into his gun hand. The Browning fell to the ground with a clatter as Felix's eyes flashed red with pain and his hand immediately became soaked in blood. The dagger was pulled out by moustache man but Felix stepped back before another blow could be delivered with it.

In the chaos the Texan became aware of the train slowing. He wondered if they had reached a stop or were being forced into one thanks to the chaos. He dealt out a punch with his left hand to the moustache man's face and caught him hard in the nose.

Kendall kicked out at scar face with her good leg, swiping across his waist with her foot. He made to strike back but she ducked and avoided the blow.

The train started to screech as it finally came to a halt.

The double doors opened and a fourth man joined them before shutting the doors. "No one needs their luggage," he announced in a sinister voice, heavy with a Mexican accent.

Felix's pale grey gaze darted from one to the other as he suddenly realised they were just toying with him and Kendall. They had to have guns surely and there were four of them, they outnumbered him and the woman. Why hadn't they killed them? 'Does he want her alive?' the blonde wondered, mystified.

The Texan let out a grunt and a cry of pain when he was caught off-guard in his troubled thoughts and dealt a painful punch to the ribs. He kicked back again, this time once to the moustache man's left shin, then to his right knee in quick succession sending his opponent momentarily to the floor.

The train was screeching again, ready to begin movement.

Felix moved in a moment of madness and desperation. He opened the door behind them and pushed Kendall out onto the narrow platform. The air, thick with pollution, hit them immediately along with the sounds of surprised people on the platform. The train was moving but it was slow, she would be alright. He just needed it to be a little quicker, couldn't give them a chance to follow.

"Forgive me," Felix said to Kendall with a forced bright smile, "I wouldn't leave you if it wasn't necessary."

Kendall looked back at him in wide eyed surprise and confusion. A scream of horror suddenly exhaled from the woman as without warning she found herself violently flung backwards, over the short iron rail that guarded the small platform.

Felix turned instantly to deal with the foes who cursed at him and made to follow. There were four of them but it was a single doorway space, he could block it. With a sneering grin and a few choice punches he did. They would wear him down but he would make sure the train had sped off a sufficient distance before they did.

Kendall McKenna was in shock. There was a loud ringing in her ears, her chest was tight, her throat burned and her head was pounding. Her mind struggled to figure out what had happened but failed, all it could scream was 'pain' and 'danger'. She blinked and for an too brief second she saw him, hands outstretched in betrayal, a crooked grin tugging at his lips, pale grey eyes sparkling with some emotion she could not decipher, positive even when things were bad.

Kendall dug her elbows down to push herself upright, they scraped painfully through the dirt and stones underneath her before complying. She rose up and heaved in a deep, painful breath that rattled through her chest. Her left leg was in agony, old wounds re-disturbed with the fall. It had come without notice and she hadn't been able to prepare a safe landing or roll, instead she had tumbled back ungracefully to the stones, winded and shocked with the blow instantly.

The shock was fading slowly. She felt a scream of despair rise in her throat and swallowed it. Finally she became aware of the people, would be passengers gawking at her in surprise from the platforms whilst two security guards moved towards her tentatively, hands outstretched in aid. One, an older male with a grey moustache, babbled at her in alarmed Chinese whilst the second, a young, handsome gentleman, gave her a calming, brown eyed stare and quipped in English, "how badly are you hurt?"

Kendall looked back at the man, grateful to find help so fast, and felt her eyes burn with tears. How the hell had this happened? "You need to stop that train!" she snapped at him suddenly. "You need to stop it now!"

He nodded back at her slowly, his gaze still calm though a wariness had crept into it. "What happened? Did you fall? Were you pushed?"

She became aware of people pointing at her and babbling in Chinese, eyes flickered from her to the direction the train had gone. Had no one bore witness? She supposed it had all happened too fast, too quickly for her to react properly to it. She shook her head and it only throbbed all the harder. She needed to figure out what had happened and more importantly, she needed to work out what to do.

"Come on, we need to get off this platform," the train worker addressed her tranquilly.

She looked up at him, his extended hand was just inches from her face. She accepted it reluctantly, allowing him to pull her feet and guide her back to the other guard. Together, with aid from other staff, they got her up to the top of a platform. It was an outdoor station, a lot smaller than the one they had come from but still thriving with activity.

Kendall was ushered into an office and offered a glass of water whilst the English speaking worker took a seat opposite her. "My superiors will call the police and an ambulance for you," he informed her softly.

She wanted to protest, the police was the last thing needed but how could she argue over it? She had fallen off a moving train out of a carriage she should not be in. She contemplated her options dully. She wanted to think of Felix and hated that right now she couldn't. She had to consider herself and her own well-being.

Kendall forced out a loud groan of pain, reached up weakly with a free hand to touch her head and then let her eyes flicker before she dropped the glass to the wooden floor to let it shatter dramatically before she slumped to her right side. Just a faint she would insist but hopefully it would be enough of a performance to avoid a cell and get a hospital instead. A hospital she could get out of easier.

* * *

James knew something had happened. Already half an hour had passed with no sign of Felix or the girl. Wai obligingly checked the Hong Kong flights and found no delays, their plane had arrived on time. James allowed for delays in getting transport from the airport but he knew it couldn't have taken them this long. He knew they couldn't be lost either, with Kendall that was an impossibility.

"I knew this was a bad idea," he grumbled.

"Could Trevino have gotten to them already?" Wai queried coolly. She was willing to consider the possibility as she looked to James for confirmation. She knew so little of the drugs baron, he had not caused any interest in China until now. If he had business here there were no records of it but then China had better things to worry about than Mexican drugs barons. Wai would never admit it but she wondered if anyone really would have bothered to keep a close eye on such a figure coming and going from the country. He had done nothing drastic on Chinese soil that she knew of, otherwise maybe he might have caused a blip on someone's radar. She supposed he was a believer in not screwing around in the workplace, he would send his drugs and sex slaves across America and Europe but he didn't trade them in China, probably because he didn't want the native authorities causing trouble for him.

"I don't know," James admitted in frustration, "but if he did how the hell did he find them?" He had tried ringing Felix's mobile but to no avail, the first couple of times it had rung off, the third time it was dead. "Felix said he was in New Mexico when I got the letter but they were ambushed in Jamaica, it's like Trevino has eyes everywhere." He frowned over at Wai.

Wai narrowed her brown gaze and retorted frostily, "well if he does we must start blinding them."

James sighed and wondered what to do, go to the airport and see if they could find out where Felix and Kendall had gone from there? They should have gotten a car into the city, not far from where James and Wai stood waiting at the Clock Tower.

The Clock Tower had seemed a good point to meet, it stood out as a tourist attraction but it was not an obvious haunt for government personnel and James could think of no reason why Trevino's men would be anywhere near it. It sat in Tsim Sha Tsui, an urban area in souther Kowloon, Hong Kong. Tsim Sha Tsui catered to the tourists with numerous restaurants, shops and museums as well as the Clock Tower. Wai had suggested the tower for a meet and James had agreed readily, thinking how Felix would like it for its fine choice of dining and that Kendall might appreciate the tourist attractions.

It irritated James that he actually considered the girl's thoughts in all this and he realised that he still carried a lot of guilt over her. It wasn't just Paris' death but now he had everything Kendall had suffered to add to his plate, hell wasn't it a full three course meal of guilt now? He had falsely believed Kendall a traitor, he had been bitter and petty to her from the get go, suspicious of her, hating her for not being Paris and yes, damn him, being annoyed at her for liking Felix and yet being callous towards him. He supposed bitterly it was why Celestine's charms had worked so well on him because he had needed his ego to be stoked after all the damage Kendall had done to it. Women usually fell at his feet all too eager to help him, it wasn't often they opposed him or worse, hated him, at least not until after he had bedded them and abandoned them.

"James?"

James snapped out his bitter thoughts and looked to Wai with a calm expression. He felt helpless and clueless but he couldn't let her see it.

"I'll make a few calls," Wai informed him calmly, "get in touch with the airport, see if we can even get footage of them, if we know they left there safely it's a start. It'll take time mind and getting the right connections but we can manage that much."

James cast a critical stare outwards. Hong Kong had the most skyscrapers in the world and the world's fifth busiest cargo port, it was a labyrinth of activity, people and buildings, how could they find them in all this? He frowned momentarily, this wasn't him, he was usually much more confident and calm. This was guilt and grief wearing him down. He shrugged off thoughts of Kendall, Paris and Celestine, they could wait, it could all wait. He reached for the part of him that was stone, that cool, collected, unflappable side, calm even under torture, the side that MI6 had nourished and he released it. "I told Felix to get as close to the Clock Tower as he could," James said as he looked to the long, rectangular pool of water before them which had fountains dancing in it, "but this is a pedestrian area. They had to take part of the route on foot, if they made it out of the airport and got a car then the trouble started nearby."

"It's a big, big area," Wai pointed out, "but I'll see what security footage we can get." She gave him a sympathetic smile. "If you're right and something has happened we will make it right."

James nodded, appreciating her words even if there was a grim implication to them. She hadn't said 'we will save your friends', she had said 'we will make it right' as if they were already dead and gone.

* * *

 _Yeah it's definitely more of a Felix Leiter fanfic than a James Bond one but I don't care, that was the point. Felix gets so little love on here. I'm still doing my best for James though, I hope anyway. I hope for more Wai Lin, I respect their scenes are largely footnotes for these chapters but they're still important scenes and it's just the way I write, their time will come. As I get ideas I have to write them I guess plus their scenes don't make sense without Felix and Kendall's scenes._

 _Yes I'm rotten to Kendall and Felix but it keeps the plot going and yes, there will be an explanation as to how Trevino has eyes everywhere, I promise._

 _As always many thanks for the reviews and favs and alerts! Please keep them coming!_


	15. Chapter 15- Texan Holed Up

The first thing Felix noticed was the different kind of aches he was feeling. First, was the dull pounding at the back of his skull, stronger to the left, he suspected a lump or bruise had formed there. Second, was the hot throb at his nose combined with an almost overwhelming stench of dried blood. Third, was the sharp sting in his ribs that was grew worse with each breath he took turning them into laboured gasps. Fourth, were his arms, stiff and tingling, he realised it was because they were raised on either side of him, suspended by tight iron cuffs about his wrists that led to his fifth complaint. Fifth, his wrists were raw, the cuffs were tight against his skin, his shirt sleeves had been pushed back so that the icy metal was touching flesh. His ankles were chained to the wall too but not suspended thankfully, his feet were flat on the ground with a minimal amount of chain to extend out. He blinked a couple of times, trying to clear his vision as he continued to assess his grim situation and remember what had put him in it in the first place.

"Are you awake yet?"

The Texan tensed at the voice, it was unfamiliar but he knew it couldn't be good. The accent was heavy, central Mexican, the voice sounded like a middle aged male, it was smooth, confident and taunting. Felix didn't want to look up to face the speaker, he was too sore and tired to fake a smile and he sure as hell didn't want this man to have the satisfaction of seeing his frustration.

"I know you are," the voice mocked.

A warm hand grasped Felix's chin tightly and forced his head up to meet the leering face of Emmanuel Trevino. Emmanuel was sloped forward slightly so that he was eye level with Felix, his face just inches from the blonde's as he gave him a wide, mirthful smile. He turned Felix's head sharply to the left, quick enough to cause a painful tinge in the Texan's neck before it was yanked again so that he was facing right, and then forward again.

"I didn't think she would like a blonde," Emmanuel commented despairingly, "and you're not that remarkable, most disappointing."

"Yeah you ain't so flashy yourself," Felix spat back in a show of irritation. He glowered at the man before he could help it, his indignation growing from being manhandled by him.

Emmanuel's smile widened. "Do you know who I am?"

"A low life worm." Felix's cheap remark was costly. The hand about his chin drifted lower to clasp about his neck almost choking him before Emmanuel's other hand curled up in a fist and struck him hard in his right cheek.

Felix bit back a wince as he tried to reel back from the blow and found himself suddenly being choked.

Emmanuel watched the American patiently with a calm, almost bored stare as if he was watching fish in a tank. He tightened his grasp a little more with each second, watching and waiting for Felix to give him a satisfactory reaction.

Felix felt his windpipe start to get crushed and he attempted to pull back from the hand but there was nowhere to go, he was already against a stone wall. He tried to move left or right and the hand suddenly thrust him back into the wall with enough force to bruise. His head banged hard off the stonework and he was made dizzy with the blow. His feet scrapped back against the stone as his body twitched and a choking noise finally escaped him. The noise grew louder and his struggles became frantic as his vision flickered to black and his ears began to ring.

Emmanuel waited until the man's kicking became fast and frightened before he finally released him.

Felix slumped against the wall slightly as the deep gasps for air came hard and fast from him, rapid despite the pain they caused in his chest.

"I think you will be a quick learner," Emmanuel sneered. "Now, let's be formal, our undesirable location should not dictate our manners. I am Emmanuel Trevino and you are Felix Leiter. I have you now in the basement of a rather wonderful complex neatly tucked away behind the trees and mountains, not so remote now that no one can find it because that would spoil the fun. Of course you'll find the basement walls are rather thick so you won't disturb any other guests I have."

Felix, finally able to breathe right again, looked at Emmanuel in confusion. "Is that what you're doing here, entertaining?" he quipped sardonically.

Emmanuel frowned back at him. "Is that what she likes about you? Your wit? I find it hopelessly transparent, you've nothing intelligent to say so you'll submit to weak attempts at sarcasm."

Felix shrugged. "Go with what you're best at," he jested. "So come on then, what do you want with me?" he queried tiredly. He wondered where his phone was and how well he had been searched. Even if the phone was off the tracker in it should still work, he just had to hope James had figured out his absence was sinister and he was working with his Q-branch to get linked to Felix's phone and follow it.

"Mi estrella de la suerte," Emmanuel replied fondly, "such a fiesty thing she is. I thought I had her broken you know, submitted to my will. I truly believed when I told her to keep you and that English spy in Veracruz that she would. It was Celestine who suspected a treachery would happen, she said it wasn't enough hurting Kendall or poisoning her with tales of all the wrongs MI6 and the CIA had done to her. She said the girl had something in her gaze that suggested she wasn't broken, that she would attempt to bring me down." He sighed heavily. "Celestine was right."

"Why didn't that bitch kill us on sight then?" Felix demanded bluntly. He could not hold back a yelp of pain when Emmanuel stepped forward and kneed him hard in the groin. The blonde sagged in his bonds but the chains were too tight for him to double over and clutch the area that was now burning with pain.

"I am still very angry over what you did to her," Emmanuel informed him icily.

"Really," Felix rasped out between winces, "because I'm not."

The blonde let out another cry of pain when a fist collided with his face again, this time hitting his jaw. His head drooped in pain and he spat up a mouthful of blood.

"You are quite the taunter," Emmanuel remarked disapprovingly. "If I did not need you I would let you die slowly but I'm not above hurting you. I know how to keep men alive for a long time Mr. Leiter and truthfully I am counting on your ability to survive torture." He composed himself, taking a half step back when Felix spat up another mouthful of blood, purposely aiming for Emmanuel's polished brown shoes as he did. "As I was explaining, Celestine went to ensure Kendall did not successfully betray me, the beauty of it was that Kendall had no idea of Celestine's existence. As for why she didn't kill you, I did not wish for your deaths, that is why. I wanted your humiliation, I wanted your organisation exposed as corrupt, weakened by a revelation of agents caught up in drug dealings. At any rate, I am sure your partner, Mr. Bond, informed you of my earlier confession with regards to this."

Felix shrugged again. "I'm just making sure your story hasn't changed," he said calmly. "What I recall is that you tried to feed Kendall to some crocodiles, doesn't seem like wanting her alive."

"She betrayed me, she deserved death for that," Emmanuel answered simply. "I was very angry with her and I did not believe I could comply her to my will. I had her for two years Mr. Leiter, for the first of those months I beat her, I locked up in a tiny cell with no sunlight, I burned her, I broke her bones, I broke her flesh, I starved her and let her lie in her own faeces," he informed Felix brightly. "Then, when she remained stubborn and refused to give me what I wanted I let my men make a plaything of her on the condition that they did no permanent damage."

Felix bristled at Emmanuel's words and counted slowly to ten in his head, knowing it would do no good to give into his anger.

"Eventually she broke down and I thought I had her, that I could begin rebuilding her. So I treated her nicely, I let her have good food, clean clothes, whatever she desired within reason and then I told her all about her sister's death because of a MI6 agent. Next I told her how the CIA had betrayed her into my hands in the first place, knowing all the while what a monster I was, and how even knowing that I had her they did nothing to help. I made her angry and vengeful and she started to help me. I thought I had what I wanted but clever Miss Kendall was playing a long game with me. You know, thinking back, the idea to use her as bait for you agents, it was one she helped come up with, I think she had a plan even then."

"Yeah, you thought you broke her but you didn't, I know that," Felix grumbled.

"Oh yes," Emmanuel sneered bitingly, "you think after a handful of weeks that you know her oh so well. I've known her for a lot longer Mr. Leiter and her treachery hurt me to the core. When I realised all my work with her had been for naught and that I could not make her help me, well she became disposable then."

"What's changed?" Felix demanded tiredly.

Emmanuel grinned back at him and extended out a hand to stroke the right side of Felix's blonde hair. "She met you Mr. Leiter. For you she will come to me, for your life she will give me all I desire, for you to keep all your limbs in tact she will kiss my feet and shower apologies on me."

Felix sneered back at him though he felt the heat drain from him as an icy fear seeped through him. "You're off your rocker," Felix retorted brashly, "she suffered you for two years, why in the hell would she endure you again for a member of the same agency that she thinks stabbed her in the back, a man she's only known for a few weeks?"

Felix tensed when Emmanuel patted him softly but tauntingly on his swollen cheek. "Let's not play ignorant, it's beneath us both. Celestine told me she let you fuck her." Emmanuel's expression suddenly flickered to anger and he sank his nails into Felix's flesh and shook his head hard before releasing him and striking at his wounded cheek with an open palm. "She wouldn't let me fuck her!"

"Jesus," Felix murmured with a shake of his head. "Is that what this is? Are you that warped?"

"You're right, you're right," Emmanuel retorted dismissively with a wave of his hand, "if she hadn't let you do that I would have no leverage with her, no pawn to use against her." He pressed the middle finger of his left hand hard into the centre of Felix's nose, forcing the skin between his nostrils up and back and causing his already injured nose to burn anew in pain. "You are that pawn Mr. Leiter, she will obey me to keep you alive and so long as she obeys me and gives me the routes I want then I have no need to kill you. So you see, she gets to live and so do you, so be happy for that. Alas, you will be in pain for all of the long life I will grant you but that can't be helped, you killed Celestine and you took mi estrella de la suerte, I have to make you suffer for that." Emmanuel dropped his hand from Felix's nose at last.

Felix smiled and shook his head. "She won't come for me, not to you, it was one lousy fuck, it's not worth suffering any of this."

"Shall we test that?" Emmanuel tugged out a phone from within his jacket pocket and began dialling a number. He held the phone up to the right side of his face and waited patiently as it began to ring. When a voice answered in Chinese he addressed them in the same.

All Felix made out was 'Kendall McKenna' but it was enough to have the colour drained from his face.

A few minutes passed and during them Felix dared to hope that it was ruse, an attempt to call his bluff or a failed, desperate attempt of Emmanuel's to reach the woman somehow. Then he heard the voice, faint over the phone but still audible enough for him to recognise it. One simple, questioning "hello" and Felix knew it was her.

"Good evening mi estrella de la suerte," Emmanuel greeted happily. "Don't hang up too quickly I have someone who wants to make his presence known to you." He lowered the phone, pressing the receiver against his waist, and smiled at Felix. "Now Mr. Leiter, I want a big scream of pain from you, loud enough that she will hear it and know."

Felix gritted his teeth in a silent, defiant answer but it was pointless.

Emmanuel snapped his fingers and from the shadows the man with the moustache from the train revealed himself. He held in his right hand his dagger from earlier. With his left hand he slammed Felix's skull against the wall and held it in place. With his second hand he raised his dagger and slowly, agonisingly drove the tip of his dagger up Felix's right nostril.

Felix tensed to the pain and tried to breath through it. His vision danced to red. It would be humiliating to pass out but he decided right now that it would be preferable. He couldn't help Trevino with this, she couldn't know he was hurting!

"Don't let him pass out Angelo," Emmanuel said warningly.

Angelo, the moustached man, gave a grunt in answer before pulling the dagger back and releasing Felix's skull. Felix had only a second of relief before the finger between his little finger and middle finger on his left hand was snapped backwards. The howl of pain came then and Kendall heard it.

"Do you know who I have here mi estrella de la suerte? Say his name to me, loud and clear now."

"Felix," she choked it out in horror, just audible enough for Felix to hear her as well.

The Texan wanted to yell protests at her, to tell her not to come but damn it he didn't think she would listen to him!

"Very good," Emmanuel praised patronisingly. "Now Kendall we have wasted enough time running around China, lovely as it is. I suspect you have reunited with Mr. Bond and must advise you that it would be very unwise for you to let him on our business. I intend to keep Mr. Leiter alive for you but I do not have to keep him in one piece."

'Suspect,' Felix thought numbly, 'then he doesn't know. So what does that mean? That he's not watching her right now? How in the hell does he know where she is then?'

"If you are with Mr. Bond you will lose him," Emmanuel instructed firmly, "and you will go to the Temple Street Night Market. It's two hours away so that's all you will be given, take any longer and Mr. Leiter here is going to lose something he holds dear. Go to the market, purchase a red ribbon for you hair and put it in a ponytail with a bow and then wait where the buddhas are being sold. Our neutral friend, Mr. Reyes, who bears a scar down his left cheek, will greet you and you will go with him. If Mr. Reyes suspects you are being pursued in any way then Mr. Leiter will be the one who pays the price. Now, Kendall, do you understand?"

"Yes."

Felix winced at the frighted, defeatist voice that came from the phone. "Kendall don't!" he yelled angrily, ignoring his fears that she wouldn't listen. She had to listen to him! "Don't you come back to him! Don't! It's okay I'll figure-" He was cut off, muffled by Angelo's greasy palm pushed over his mouth with a grasp hard enough to bruise.

Emmanuel tutted scornfully as he frowned as the Texan. "I do wish you hadn't done that Mr. Leiter, now Kendall's going to need another scream from you to assure her that you are very much in danger. Angelo, quickly this time."

Felix vowed not to give in this time, he knew how to deal with torture, it was basic training but reality was very different from training. Angelo apparently had training too because his dagger was back, at the middle finger of Felix's left hand this time, the tip going up and under the nail and slowly applying pressure back. Felix winced and gritted his teeth again. His fists clenched together, his entire body tensed and his mind screamed in pain. Closer, closer, the nail was going back. Felix made himself smile at Angelo and shook his head. The nail snapped and Felix's mind went black.

"Get him awake!" Emmanuel snapped crossly.

Angleo cursed and tugged Felix's head upright by his scalp with one hand. He slapped both cheeks twice before getting a groan from the blonde.

"I want a scream Angelo, not a faint," Emmanuel said angrily.

"You're a rotten bastard," Felix grumbled.

Angelo reached up to Felix's right arm with both hands and he pulled hard and twisted it.

Felix screamed compliantly as he felt his arm sprain.

"Good boy," Emmanuel praised. "Did you hear that Kendall?"

"Yes."

"Tell me what you're going to do."

"Go to the Temple Street Night Market," she answered mournfully. "Buy a red ribbon, put it in my hair in a bow, in a ponytail and wait for Mr. Reyes at the buddhas.

"Wonderful, goodbye now Kendall." Emmanuel hung up the phone and placed it back in his jacket pocket.

"How do you always find her?" Felix groaned despairingly.

"She is a precious treasure to me Mr. Leiter," Emmanuel answered with a fond twinkle in his pale topaz brown eyes, "and we must always know where our treasure is. It's quite simple really, I was always afraid of losing her so one day I had her drugged and then I had a tiny tracking device placed in the bone of her left arm, so small most devices wouldn't even pick up on it, very good signal however."

Felix sagged in his disbelief before he gave a mournful laugh. He thought of that odd bump he had felt a few times on her arm on the bone and now he realised what it was. Poor Kendall had never even known the cause, all this time dismissing it as another lasting reminder of the abuse she had suffered. Felix wondered how they had never picked up on it and then he thought back, Kendall had only been checked a few times, in a hospital in New Mexico that didn't have the best X-Ray equipment, a shoddy medical shack in Colombia, and by Celestine. Felix's laughter turned into a wild howl at that thought as he realised the obvious now. Celestine had known exactly what to check for when inspecting Kendall's wounds and exactly what to keep from them.

Emmanuel frowned at the laughter. He leaned forward to Felix once more and patted him on the head. "I enjoyed the chase Mr. Leiter, it entertained me for a while, all those times you narrowly slipped the grasp of my men, it was a good way to eliminate the weak ones but you killed too many and so few wanted to chase you after that. It all grew tiresome in the end and as fun as the chase was I had to end it. Don't feel too bad about it, I was always going to get her in the end."

* * *

Kendall lowered the phone to its receiver numbly as she felt a tremble run through her. Her breaths came out rapidly as the tremble turned to shaking and tears began to trickle down her cheeks uncontrollably. Felix had sounded like he was in real pain and she knew Trevino and all the things he was capable of. Two hours from the Temple Street Night Market, two hours by the route he knew maybe but she knew a quicker one. She rubbed away her tears quickly and looked at the clock hanging on a wall above the phone, she would have maybe fifteen minutes to spare.

Kendall hastened out of the phone booth and hurried across the lobby to the watchful Wai Lin. The pair had only been introduced less than twenty-four hours ago. Yesterday afternoon Kendall had been separated from Felix and wound up in a hospital. Before she could escape the hospital James and Wai had arrived. Kendall's incident on the tracks had caused a minor stir in local news, her being a foreigner had peaked some interest and word had gotten to Wai. Kendall had then been forced to explain Felix's absence to James who had paled and looked shocked.

They had considered going to another of Wai Lin's secret bases but Kendall had vetoed it, pointing out how Trevino always seemed to find her and that she did not want to be responsible for him learning the location of Chinese intelligence.

They had went to a hotel instead where Wai, James and Kendall had scrambled for plan. James had blamed Kendall for Felix's absence and given her a heated barrage of verbal abuse for insisting she came to China. Kendall had argued back with him, snapping that he had had three weeks to end this mess and that his agency had failed to help her. It had been Wai who had ended the squabbling by querying if Kendall could have a tracking device in her.

James had scoffed it as too obvious and insisted they would have detected it before turning pale as he came to the same realisation that Felix had. It had been Celestine who had checked Kendall over, there had been no time for anyone else, no need for anyone else.

The unhappy trio had went to the markets after that, drifting through narrow alleyways and past curious shops under Wai's guidance until they came to a tattoo parlour that was a front. It doubled as a medic centre for the Chinese secret agents. Wai had asked the assistant there to do a thorough body scan of Kendall searching for a possible tracking device. The first three scans had turned up nothing. James had dismissed the idea but Wai had been certain it had to be the case. It was the medic who suggested a scanning of the bones. It had involved another trip, back to the hospital this time with the medic under the guise of rechecking Kendall's injuries from the train incident. At the hospital it had been a slow, laborious and unpleasant experience for Kendall getting yet another scan. This one had been successful. The medic had commented that even when they had known what to look for it had still proved difficult. He had suggested surgery to remove it but Kendall had refused. This time she had an idea.

"Miss McKenna who called?" Wai pried softly, pulling Kendall back to her senses. They were back in the hotel, standing in a busy lobby, and whilst no one seemed to be paying attention to them it was hard to be certain.

Kendall glanced past Wai to the double doors where James lingered impatiently. "He did," she answered quietly. "I don't have much time." She started walking towards James.

Wai followed after the younger woman with a troubled expression. Anyone could tell the woman was shaken, scared even, and the agent knew that the call had to mean Felix was in trouble. The call had come through reception, so Trevino knew she was here but, Wai wondered, did he know that James was here? Did he know about Wai?

James took one look at Kendall and he tensed as he knew what she was going to say. He clenched his fists tightly at his sides and a frown tugged at his lips as he resisted the urge to scream blame at her and waited for her to speak.

"It was him," she addressed James numbly as she met his cold, unforgiving gaze unflinchingly. "He has Felix," she added wearily, "and he's hurt him." Her throat tightened as a lump grew in it. "I...I have to go, he has a man coming for me to take me to him." She swallowed hard as the trembles started anew. "He said he suspected I was with you so he doesn't know for certain. I just...don't follow, please, give me time...two hours."

James' frown deepened. "This is your fault," he addressed her icily.

She nodded. "I know and now I understand you at last," she added bitterly, "how you might have gotten my sister killed without meaning to. I didn't mean for this, I didn't think he would use Felix, that he would think of it...Anyway, I've given you a plan haven't I? You can try it, maybe it will get you to us wherever we end up. Just, be mindful that he will have guards everywhere and one slip up and he might not kill Felix but he'll hurt him in a way he can't come back from." She hesitated before plucking out the card key to her hotel room out of her jeans' pocket and handing it out to James. "For what it's worth I've left my notes in my room, I think he's hiding in Guilin, with the mountains and trees it's a good spot whilst still being near a city for resources, a lot of caves too and the Li River is perfect for travelling by boat, and if you know the river well enough you can avoid checkpoints. It's the opium you know, the drugs, that's why he's here."

James accepted the keycard and nodded back, her words about Paris had unnerved him. Was it the same? Not really, he had purposely exploited Paris, he certainly couldn't accuse Kendall of doing the same to Felix. Hell it had been Felix who had been gung-ho about coming here, he had wanted to right from the start. James sighed, after all they had been through and all the bitterness they had exchanged he couldn't let her go off like this, just in case. "Kendall it wasn't your fault," he said quietly. "Felix is a CIA agent, he is trained for this and he made his choice."

Wai, who had hung back listening to the exchange, stepped forward then with a protesting expression. "James are you really letting her go?" she queried in disbelief. "With no shadowing, no weapons, nothing?"

"Anything like that and Trevino might know," James retorted bitterly. "It's not worth the risk. If she goes now, unfollowed, and we wait long enough he might not suspect that we know about the tracker, that we can trace it now too."

Kendall nodded with a vague gleam of hope in her eyes. "I hope you can," she said numbly. "Now, let me go." She stepped past James and headed out the double doors without waiting for a farewell.


	16. Chapter 16- Unhappy Reunion

Mr. Reyes was right on time. He was small for a man and only a couple of inches taller than Kendall but he stood out despite this with a large, white scar that cut through the left side of his golden-brown skin immediately drawing attention to his already ugly face. He had a small, squat nose, thin lips drawn down in a frown and thick, bushy, ebony eyebrows with a small cluster of spots between them. He stood at the buddhas stall with his back to it, arms slouched by his side and his expression suggesting one of his impatience. His beady, brown eyes darted up to the ribbon tied in Kendall's hair in a bow and he stepped forward towards her.

"Follow me," he instructed her bluntly. There was no suggestion of politeness or words of threat though a stern gleam in his gaze suggested he would hurt her if he had to. He didn't even wait for her response, he turned to the left and started shouldering through the crowds.

Kendall struggled to keep up, the market was full of life and people of all orientations and the Mexican's small stature made it all the more difficult for Kendall to keep an eye on him. She winced as she was elbowed unintentionally and had to dart from left to right to avoid people.

They walked for fifteen minutes before breaking through the crowd to a road with cars parked along side it. Kendall was startled when they stopped beside a red and white taxi.

Mr. Reyes hit a button to unlock the doors and gestured to the back passenger seats for Kendall. She opened a door and slid into the middle seat. Mr. Reyes slid into the driver's seat and the doors clicked locked. He fiddled with something in the front and then turned without warning, reaching out suddenly with one hand stretching out to her face to slam it back against the leather seat, turning her head sharply to the right.

"No don't!" Kendall protested as she made to struggle. She didn't even know what he was trying to do but it couldn't be good! The jab in her neck came just as she thrust her arms out in defence, hands raising up to try and push Mr. Reyes' stronger grasp back. She landed a strike with her nails at his scar but he barely flinched. "No," she moaned as the world began to dim.

Mr. Reyes pulled back with the empty needle in hand and a look of satisfaction. He disposed of the needle in the space before the gear stick, just below the radio before turning his attention back to Kendall. "Mr. Trevino said it would be better for you to sleep, that it is a long journey and you need rest." He watched as Kendall tried and failed to fight against the drug he had forced into her system, waiting patiently for her to pass out. Once she was unconscious he leaned back into the seat and fastened a seat belt around her before he finally turned on the engine. It didn't take long for him to pull out onto the road.

* * *

James frowned in frustration as he looked at the screen before him in a subdued anger. It was electronic depiction of a map, akin to a Sat Nav it was displaying and following a red circle that indicated Kendall. "I should be following her," he complained. The red circle was moving again but at a quicker pace, it was following along a main road.

Wai turned her attention away from the small screen she had been studying opposite James and looked at his curiously. "James, you don't want to give her away. This tracker is our best means of finding Trevino."

"She is our only means of finding Felix," James grumbled, "and I don't like that. All this waiting around and wondering, what if this thing malfunctions?"

Wai shook her head calmly and gestured over to the screen she had been looking at. "It's our best lead but not our only one. I've been looking into Felix's vanishing since Kendall mentioned it. He was on a crowded train James, how did they get him off without notice?"

James looked back at Wai blankly. Truthfully he hadn't thought much about it, everything had happened far too damn fast. Felix had barely set foot in the country before getting himself abducted. Was it even abducted? Trevino's phone call to Kendall was really the only confirmation, for all James knew his friend was dead already and Trevino was lying.

Wai turned her attention back to her screen, she clicked with the mouse taking the CCTV footage she had been watching back a few frames. "Watch," she instructed calmly.

James stood up and came over to Wai's screen. It displayed a car park for something, fairly crowded, it got even busier when an ambulance pulled up and two men got out. They stood and waited for approximately two minutes, glancing about anxiously before a cluster of people appeared on screen. James paled as he watched what unfolded. Four men ushered an unconscious figure, tall and obviously blonde despite how grainy the footage was, between them to the ambulance, waving and shouting back at passersby who got in the way. Between them they got the man strapped onto a gurney and loaded onto the ambulance. More suspiciously, all four men accompanied the blonde onto the ambulance.

"How the hell did they get an ambulance at such short notice?" James demanded.

"They stole it," Wai retorted, "luckily for us. They didn't have much time to plan I guess, they couldn't have known Felix and Kendall would try and flee on a train or that Felix would be the one they would be taking. James, the ambulance had a tracker on it, it went right out of Hong Kong before they ditched it. CCTV picked them up again in a black BMW, fake licence plates no doubt, it came up clean but we were able to follow it, it was going north west. Kendall was right, they were heading for Guilin. Now, we lost them before they got that far but I think with Kendall's notes and knowing we can narrow it to an area, we can find them. Of course, if it's right then Kendall will be heading there."

James looked at Wai and tried hard to get the weary and almost foreign feeling of helplessness from his face. He wasn't used to being the one in the dark without the plan and he wasn't sure how to feel about Wai having all the confidence and ideas. "Guilin," he repeatedly numbly, "if only we could head them off but it's a big area."

Wai nodded but remained looking confident. "James if you're willing to trust me on this I can get us transport arranged for there now, and we can keep following Kendall's tracker on the mobile unit, if it strays in a different direction then we will re-reroute too but if I'm right it means we won't be lagging behind or risking Kendall by directly following her. We'll take Kendall's notes and come up with a plan on the way. Trevino wasn't here for Kendall, she came to him, he has other business here, there will be evidence."

"But will we find it quick enough?" James wondered aloud in frustration. He thought of Felix again, reckless, happy go lucky, always positive and just that little bit overconfident Felix Leiter. James didn't want to think his friend might have already been killed, he had to believe what Kendall did, that Trevino wouldn't kill him because he needed him alive to get her to work for him. James' thoughts turned grimly to Alec Trevelyan, the former 006, it was a name James rarely allowed himself to think upon. They had been partners for so long, his betrayal had come out of the blue and even now James wondered where the signs were. It was why he had worked alone since.

Felix was the only kind of aid James would permit and even he, James had tried to keep at arm's length. After Alec's betrayal James wasn't interested in finding friendship with work colleagues. Felix wouldn't have it though, since work was life Felix believed in having fun with it. The Texan believed as they might die at any given moment they should live the best they could. Felix always knew the best places to wine and dine when they were on a mission and where the best casinos for gambling were. The man could, as Celestine had rightly asserted, stay in a barn if the mission called for it, he was no snob like James but he liked his fun and, as James was finally beginning to realise, the reason he sought out and shared all these nice places was because he knew James would like them. Felix didn't like forking out for a five star hotel when he knew three star would do fine but he knew James wouldn't do less than five. Equally, he had little concern over whether he was eating prize steak or a cheap burger but he knew James did so he made the effort. Damn it, Felix really was a good friend and James cursed silently to himself as he realised he couldn't lose the man.

"Alright Wai, Kendall says Guilin and you say Guilin, let's get ready to go," James said with a cool calm.

Wai nodded and moved to a cordless phone lying near the mouse she had been using. She picked it up and began dialling.

* * *

Kendall awoke to a stiff, throbbing head that felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool. She felt dizzy as her eyes opened slowly, they too ached and her vision seemed blurred.

"Slowly, slowly," a voice commented soothingly. It sounded distant making Kendall think her ears were blocked up.

The world was spinning as she tried to make it come into focus and she felt sick with the effect. Her palms sank down against cool stone slabs as she tried to focus and push herself upright. She opened her mouth and threw up onto the floor between her hands, groaning as her head roared in pain with the effort.

"Apologies, the drugs were a little strong but they will clear." The voice was audible now and Kendall could not resist a shudder as she recognised it.

Another mouthful of vomit escaped the woman before she was able to attempt composing herself. She pulled herself into a sitting position, she knew it was meek but she didn't trust herself to stand just yet, her head was still pounding and whilst the ground had stopped swaying she still felt dizzy. She turned her gaze up to Trevino carefully, loathing that she had to look up to him like a woman already cowed into submission. He looked like he always did, calm and sophisticated, dressed for business in a specially tailored suit, coal black hair neat, greying against his temples adding to his distinguished appearance. Only his gaze gave him away as a villain, it was cruel, hard and cold like the topaz stone it took its colour from.

"Where am I?" Kendall queried hoarsely as she rubbed at her mouth.

The room was large, old-fashioned and made of stone slabs and dark wooden beams with an obvious native presence to it. The light source came from electric lights designed to mimic torches in scones on the wall and fake candles on iron chandeliers hanging down from the ceiling. The room itself had few furnishings and resembled the Gothic interior of an ancient Chinese temple or palace.

"It's my home away from home," Emmanuel answered her proudly, "and for a time it will be yours too." He extended down his right hand to her. When she regarded it with derision he said in a frosty calmness, "Kendall do not start off poorly with me, I've had to keep Mr. Leiter entertained for many hours now while waiting for your arrival, do you wish for the entertainment to continue?"

Kendall shook her head before she accepted the hand numbly. She tried to turn her will to iron, to force her mind to ignore who the hand was attached but it was impossible. When she felt his fingers coil around hers she could almost hear the snap of the proverbial mousetrap. As she stood slowly from the ground she began to recall what had happened, what Mr. Reyes had done. She had been knocked out and for the moment had no clue where in China she was.

"I'm curious Kendall," Emmanuel purred at her coolly, "does he mean this much to you this Mr. Leiter? I was wondering, he's the hair of a scarecrow and a terrible accent and his personality grates after a while." He sighed. "I don't understand it. You know," he added with a hopeful smile at her, "if he doesn't I can let you watch our other good friend Angelo rip out Mr. Leiter's tongue and gouge out his eyes. I know he's grown very tired of the American's idea of insults, I think he would be eager to silence him permanently."

Kendall stiffened, if she did not know Emmanuel Trevino so well she might have considered it was a bluff or a cruel joke but she knew that the Mexican was always as good as his word. "No," she protested in a quiet voice. She let out a yelp when she was backhanded hard and sent crashing back down to the floor. She winced as her head banged off stone and the world spun again.

"You didn't take long jumping into his bed," he scorned her. "Did you fuck him more than once? Did you like it? You're just a notch on his bedpost, you stupid girl, I'd have given you everything to work for me, money, a good home, the finest of clothes. What did he offer you?"

"Freedom," she answered quietly, her gaze defiant as she turned it up on him.

Emmanuel's frown deepened and his hand tightened into a fist as he contemplated another blow. "Silly to waste so much on a man like him," he remarked coldly. "I'm disappointed you couldn't choose better." He scowled down at her in disgust before his hand relaxed and he added calmly, "however I suppose it is an advantage to me that you do like him because I could not get you to work for me without a pawn I suspect. I broke you but not well enough, you're too stubborn without leverage."

Kendall tensed at Trevino's words, maybe it was true, maybe it had been a novelty for Felix, a moment of sex to enjoy amongst the chaos, carpe diem and all that but she couldn't hold it against him if that was the case. Had she been any better? The first time on the beach had come as a surprise, she hadn't expected it to go so far but she hadn't wanted it to stop, it had been far too long since she had enjoyed sex. The second time had been on her account, partially initiated as a means of keeping Felix interested in her and her safety and thus ensuring the CIA wouldn't forsake her. Of course it had been out of attraction as well, a way of seeing if the second time could be as good as the first. Felix had seemed so annoyed when she had revealed her selfish motivation behind it, he had been upset even. Thinking back on all he had said Kendall realised she believed him. It wasn't just mindless sex to escape the stress of the job for Felix, he did like her and she liked him too and hell wasn't that why they were both now stuck in this mess? If she hadn't responded to his kiss on the beach, if she hadn't allowed it to continue, initiated it again, if she had only stayed cold to him then he could have never been exploited.

"Let me see him," she said pleadingly as she pushed herself to her feet.

Emmanuel smiled down at her cruelly before nodding. "Of course, you must know the threat is real, I understand." He held out his hand to her once more and she accepted unhesitatingly.

Kendall was careful to take in her surroundings through a narrowed gaze from a slightly downturned face as Emmanuel escorted her to Felix. He walked as if he was taking her to dinner, treading leisurely with a smile and pausing every so often to point out the décor in the rooms they moved through- a Ming vase in the corridor, the armour of a royal soldier in another corridor, a painting of an emperor. Kendall made a note of it all, checkpoints on the way to Felix. She took in every turn, counted every step, and looked for anything that stood out.

"An underground dungeon?" she queried distastefully as they headed down the third set of stone steps. The temperature was dropping and she knew they had to be underground. "A bit of a cliché."

"Kendall don't get bold again," Emmanuel chided, "your freedom with the American has made you a little too spirited I think and I shall have to tighten your leash."

Kendall knew it was unwise to chide the man but she didn't want to seem afraid of him anymore. Her fear had exhausted her and her paranoia had not benefited her in the end. Fear would not help Felix. She stayed silent as they arrived at a guarded door. It looked medieval but the keypad on it was numbered. She tried to spy the number the guard keyed in but he kept it shielded with his back. She imagined the number would get changed soon anyway, Emmanuel wouldn't run the risk of Kendall learning it.

The stench hit her first. Fresh blood, it was strong on the air and hit the back of her throat with a metallic tang. She allowed Emmanuel to guide her along, following after the smell of blood to the dungeon's only prisoner.

He was chained up against the wall by his wrists, his hair stuck out in all directions and was stained with flecks of blood, his nose was a bloody mess, his right eye was swollen, a dirty, yellow tinged gag had been bound about his mouth and bore spots of red, his throat was exposed and bruising, and his shirt had been ripped open showing a chest streaked with deep, horizontal lines of blood. There was a man beside him, a figure half in shadow on a wooden stool, legs crossed with a leather lash limp across his lap.

Kendall couldn't stop staring at Felix in horror, the wounds on his chest were fresh and still leaking blood. His head was bowed and she realised he was unconscious. She wanted to go to him but she could feel Trevino's grasp tight upon her hand and knew he would hold her back.  
"Angelo, wake up Mr. Leiter for his guest please," Emmanuel instructed brightly.

Kendall finally tore her gaze from Felix at Emmanuel's words to seek out this Angelo. It was the man on the stool and only as she looked to him did she was become conscious of a dripping sound near him. At first she thought it was a leaking pipe but then her eyes drifted down to the lash on his lap and she realised as she saw a gleam of red catch in the light that it was blood dripping from the crude torture instrument. She swallowed hard as Angelo stood and came into the light, he was the moustached man from the train.

CRACK! Angelo let out a terrific blow with the lash, cutting across Felix's stomach this time with the sharp, metallic tip. It ripped off a fresh strip of flesh and opened a new wound. Felix jumped into awakeness with the blow and gave a grunt of pain.

"Take off his gag Angelo, let's hear what cunning remarks he has for Kendall," Emmanuel instructed.

Angelo sighed with an obvious reluctance as he lowered the lash by his side. "He doesn't stop talking," he complained. "Always insulting me."

"Yes, well if he keeps it up I might give you permission to cut out his tongue," Emmanuel replied happily.

Angelo stepped up to Felix and yanked his head upright roughly with one hand, pulling it tightly by the strands of his tattered blonde hair. He tugged out the gag with his free hand and snarled, "don't get cute or I'll carve out your tongue."

Felix gave the man a mocking smile in answer before heaving out a deep, forced breath that sent a pang of agony through his chest. Angelo released Felix and stepped back, allowing him to see Emmanuel and Kendall. Felix filled with despair for Kendall when he spied her but he did not dare voice it, there was no point in upsetting her further.

"You look like hell Felix," she greeted him softly with a faint smile. She would be brave damn it, Emmanuel wouldn't see her tears, she couldn't let him have the satisfaction.

"Not too bad then," Felix retorted teasingly. He let out a rattled cough, wincing as blood came up with it and a shudder followed.

Emmanuel released Kendall's wrist at last and he looked at her thoughtfully. "I was expecting more from you," he commented mournfully, "tears and some pleas for the man. Maybe I haven't hurt him enough."

"I told you," Felix snapped at him angrily, "there was nothing between us, alright. She's not going to enslave herself to you, first chance she gets she'll get away from you."

"Angelo-" Emmanuel began.

"No!" Kendall interrupted sharply. Bravado wasn't worth it if it only got Felix hurt more. She hurried towards the blonde, giving Emmanuel the satisfaction of her despair after all but she decided that it was better this than Felix losing an arm or a leg. "No," she repeated softly as she extended her right hand up to the limp blonde curls about Felix's brow, "don't hurt him anymore, please. I'm here now, I'll do what you want." She met Felix's distraught gaze as she spoke and tried to convey a sense of calm in her own. She wanted desperately to assure him that James and Wai were coming, that they could track her, but there was no way of letting the blonde know that without giving everything away to Emmanuel. Kendall settled for gently pressing her palm against his brow instead and murmuring quietly to him, "it's okay Felix, I'll make things right this time." His forehead burned at her touch and she knew it couldn't be long before a fever followed for him.

"Kendall why in the hell did you come?" he queried hoarsely. "I'd have figured something out, shit I ain't worth you being back with him."

"Shhh," she murmured, "don't concern yourself with it Felix, please." She moved her hand to the side of his face and stroked his wounded cheek soothingly. "God they've made a mess out of you."

"Well I let them mark up your face," he retorted bitterly, "karma, right?"

Kendall frowned at him and shook her head. "No, you don't deserve this."

"That's enough," Emmanuel interrupted frostily.

Kendall glanced over her left shoulder at the Mexican pleadingly. "One more minute," she begged. Her hand moved up, drifting slowly across Felix's right arm until she was clasping at his bound hand. She leaned close to him and kissed him lightly on his bloody lips as she gripped his hand tightly.

Emmanuel moved swiftly in a rage to grab Kendall back by her ponytail with his right hand. He tugged her back forcefully and threw her to the ground as she screamed before turning and kicking her hard in the ribs.

Felix let out a yell of protest at the sight but there was nothing he could do.

Emmanuel stopped after a second kick and let out a heavy pant as he clasped his palms to his upper thighs and looked down at Kendall angrily. "I told you that was enough!" he yelled at her. "You say you will obey me for him and the first thing you do is disobey!"

Kendall looked up at him in horror as she pushed herself upright once more as she found herself shaking involuntarily as a hundred memories of past abuse washed over her. She shook her head repeatedly in protest, squeezed her eyes tightly shut and clasped her hands to her ears in a futile effort to shut out the nightmarish memories. "No, no," she rambled.

"Jesus leave her alone," Felix snapped. He was angry but worried as well, he could see Kendall was already suffering the beginnings of a breakdown and he wondered what all Emmanuel would put her through now, what it would take to break her.

Emmanuel glanced over at Felix moodily before turning a sinister smile on Kendall as he stood upright and raised his hands to his hips. "I want proof," he addressed her firmly, "that you will obey me. If I don't get it right now then Mr. Leiter will be losing a limb."

Kendall dropped her hands from her head and looked up at the man, her bogeyman for years, with despair. "Alright," she said miserably.

"Kiss my shoes and beg for my forgiveness." He turned his wicked smile on Felix. "And you watch Mr. Leiter and see that it is as exactly as I foretold it would be."

Kendall swallowed hard and tasted vomit again. She wanted to refuse, to be brave and curse at him and spit on his shoes but she knew if she did he would only hit her again and poor Felix would indeed lose a limb for it. Emmanuel wouldn't even give her a second chance, he would simply snap his fingers and Angelo would produce a saw or axe or something equally proficient from somewhere and that would be it. She moved on her knees with a tremble to the man's feet feeling a rush of humiliation wash over her.

"Kendall don't," Felix protested meekly, "not for me. Shit, let him go ahead and do what he wants."

Kendall ignored his pleas, he didn't realise yet how good Emmanuel was at delivering on his promises. She sucked in another breath and dipped her head, better to be quick. She gave each shoe a brief kiss before turning her sorrowful gaze up to the Mexican. "I'm sorry," she said, "please forgive me, please."

Emmanuel folded his arms and looked at her with a cruel satisfaction. "Good, now get up, you've disgraced yourself enough." He sighed and shook his head scornfully. "I wanted our reunion to be more pleasant."

Kendall stood obediently and gave Felix another look, she let him see her determination, a glimmer in her eyes that suggested hope before she covered it with a feigned despair for Trevino. Felix had to wonder at it, had he imagined it? Was he delirious? What was she trying to tell him?

Emmanuel seized Kendall by her arm this time and gave Felix an icy look. "Well Mr. Leiter we will leave you for now and bid you a good night."

"Yeah, thanks for the hospitality," Felix sneered back tiredly.

Emmanuel's gaze narrowed and darted over to the moustached man. "Angelo do see that Mr. Leiter continues to enjoy our hospitality in my absence." He turned away from the blonde at last, tugging Kendall with him and marched her from the room and the grizzly scene.

Kendall tensed as the sounds of a lash striking out and Felix yelping called after them.


	17. Chapter 17- Ambush

Guilin city was a mixture of urban and nature, tower blocks sprouting out of the trees with mountains for a backdrop and a river for a border. There was much to see and if James hadn't been here on business and badly pushed for time he might have considered it. As it was, the closest he was getting was a view out an apartment window of green mountaintops shrouded in mist and the distant sparkle of the dark blue serpent that was the Li River. He drew the blinds over the window and then took a step to one side of it before turning away from it. He didn't like having his back to any window and tried to avoid it if he could. He returned his attention to the round dining table Wai was seated at studying maps and notes with frustration. Beside her was a small box with a red circle flashing on a map on it, it was Kendall's tracker and it hadn't moved much.

"It's a house called Mountain's Secret," Wai announced as she pointed to a crude printout of a map of structures in the Guilin mountain area to the north. "It took me a while, it's not on too many maps, it appeared on one back when it was probably built around two hundred years ago and then again when it was modified approximately ten years ago. There's only one main path to it so we'll have to go through the trees but I'm not sure how we'll get access. It'll take too long to get blueprints of the place but it's only us two so we're going to have to put some serious thought into it."

James looked at Kendall's notes on the table, one heading catching his eye. He tugged the page out from under a pile and gave a tight, bitter smile. "What are the chances the old sewage system remains?"

Wai followed James' gaze to the map of sewer pipes throughout Guilin. It was complicated until they followed it out of the city and in the direction of the Mountain's Secret where there was a map of a network that was old and had barely been modified. "It's not how I envisioned our second mission would be," Wai admitted, "but it could work."

James smiled at her coyly. "Then you envisioned a second mission?" he queried teasingly. He finally felt some confidence. The sewage system seemed like a sign, it was how he had liberated Kendall to begin with and he knew she had to have been confident in the map to leave it for him.

Wai gave a teasing grin in answer. "I thought you might want another chance to impress me," she joked.

James looked at the sewers map again. "If I blow up a two hundred year old building on a mountaintop will that impress you?"

Wai shook her head. "Not if you're using my bombs to do it, then technically it would be my explosion."

"Do you have enough fire power for that?"

"Always Mr. Bond, do you?"

James raised a dark eyebrow at this, suspecting there was a double entendre in her words somewhere. He felt the fond stirrings of lust as he took in her teasing smile that was full of seductive promise and the dark sparkle of mischief in her brown eyes. He realised suddenly that he had missed the Chinese agent and worse, he was wary of bringing her into danger even though he couldn't imagine anyone more competent at his side. "You know Wai," he said seriously, "this isn't your fight."

Wai raised both her eyebrows as she gave James a disapproving glare. "James it's a bit late for that and anyway, without me you're a foreign invader breaking into and destroying native houses. You didn't ask me to come along, I chose to and we both know you would be lost without me."

He gave a weak half-laugh at this. "Well I'll admit I'm glad for the company even if it is wading into sewers to certain doom."

"Certain? You're usually a little more optimistic than this," she chided him. "At least we don't have a stealth boat to contend with this time."

"True, just a madman who deals in weapons and drugs," James grumbled. "It's going to be a bloodbath," he said grimly. "It's the only way, we'll be outnumbered and outgunned, we'll have to be quick and use every dirty trick we can if we want to get out. It's not going to just be a rescue mission either," he decided firmly. "Trevino must die on the mountain, I can't afford to let him get away again, none of us can."

Wai nodded sympathetically. "Well I've brought quite a good collection of weapons along," she assured him. "Now, it's five o'clock and we have both spent a long time travelling. I know you don't want to leave either of your friends up there for long but we both need rest, I'm going to suggest sleep until eight and then we begin our trek under the cover of darkness."

James nodded with grudging agreement. "You know," he said wistfully with a wider smile, "this could be our last moment alive, perhaps we shouldn't sleep alone."

Wai smiled back in answer and shook her head. "If you blow up the building maybe you will have earned a night of company," she remarked thoughtfully, "but only then."

"Only maybe?" James remarked with a feigned wounded look.

"As I said, they're my bombs, I'm being generous," she retorted. "Now, I'm off to rest, I'll see you at eight." She headed through a single door into a small, single bedroom.

The pair had booked into a block high up on an apartment block in the main city, it was private, secure and absurdly expensive but it served its purpose as a base and a place to sleep. It offered two single bedrooms, a bathroom and a dining/seating area combined with a kitchenette.

James glanced about his surroundings briefly before he began tidying up the maps and notes, it would be asking for trouble leaving them exposed. Satisfied that they had a plan he headed for his own bedroom, kicked off his shoes and lay down on top of the sheets fully clothed. The climate was hot and humid, and the room was dark and stuffy but he had no desire to switch on the air con or the light, knowing that both would irritate him. Instead he shut his eyes and attempted to find sleep.

At just after seven p.m. local time James gave up on a troubled sleep. He sat upright on the bed soaked in sweat, reaching for a glass of vodka that wasn't there as he wondered which woman had invaded his sleep this time. He tensed in surprise as he caught a flashback of turquoise eyes and pressed a hand to his damp brow. Could it really have been Kendall this time? He had always considered himself indifferent to the girl, guilty over her only because of her connection to Paris but now he wondered. Had she wormed her way in somehow? Had he let Felix's fondness for her subconsciously persuade him into thinking she mattered? Was it her own stubbornness and resilient ability to survive that had unwittingly charmed him? Well not charmed, that wasn't the right word, he hadn't lost his senses quite yet. He still regarded her as rough around the edges, fierce rather than fiery. No, he would never be attracted to her, let Felix suffer that madness, but perhaps he had stopped being indifferent to her.

James roused himself from the bed at last and exited, heading quietly to the bathroom. There he relieved himself, splashed cold water on his face and smoothed down his wrinkled white shirt before stepping back into the dining area. Wai joined him ten minutes later and by half-seven they were heading, earlier than agreed, to where she had had her weapons safely delivered.

It was almost half nine before the spies finally started the arduous mountain trek. James could only be relieved that it wasn't the entire mountain this time given how much he was carrying. He had smoke bombs, explosives, detonators, his faithful Walther PPK with two spare clips, two gas cannisters that would knock out anyone within a ten feet radius, and a switchblade. He also carried in his inner jacket pocket a loaded Browning in the faint hope that Felix might be able to make use of it when they got to him.

Wai was a little less discreet, moving along with ease with a Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine hung at her side from a thick, black strap. James had given the gun a second glance and noted how she had used a pair on Carver's stealth ship. She had nodded and informed him of an acquired fondness for them after that event. Wai also carried smoke bombs, a war fan which looked like a harmless fan until opened to reveal a collection of deadly pointed blades, two throwing knives and some minor explosives. Wai marched quietly through the thick cluster of trees without breaking a sweat, very much looking like a lady prepared for war.

James kept pace, his gaze darting back and forth from the shadows of the trees and rocks to Wai. He couldn't resist sneaking glances at the woman, she was in her element here and she couldn't have looked more appealing to him. Her raven hair flowed free behind her shoulders, bouncing along them lightly with each step she took, and she was clad in black to blend in with their dark surroundings, though it wasn't leather this time as the climate did not permit for it. James was a little disappointed by the lack of leather but he could admit privately that he had never seen a woman look so formidable and attractive.

Wai seemed to ignore the English agent as she focused on winding through the trees, following the path from memory. It was an hour before they had to stop and double check they were still on the right path. A quick glance at the tracker confirmed it. This was the only time Wai looked James' way with a brief, brown stare that hinted at so many things to James but said nothing save a silent promise of 'after'. The fact that Wai believed there would be an after gave James hope.

* * *

Felix was bordering on delirium when Kendall came to visit him again. She limped towards him slowly, wincing with each step as pain and exhaustion laboured her. She had spent hours studying numerous maps of ancient and modern China, going over the infamous Silk Road, forgotten streets exploited by the peasants to avoid being caught by the soldiers and later streets used by foreigners and natives alike to smuggle opium out of the country when it surged in popularity in Victorian London and a demand for it grew strong.

Her eyes ached from all the reading she had done, her left more so because it had been bruised anew and her torso was sore too, though she could see no visible bruising on it she dully considered internal damage as the ache there only seemed to worsen. Trevino had considered her slow and rebellious even when she was trying to please him and his personal beatings had come swift and without warning. All the while Kendall could only wonder about Felix, about what all he was enduring and how much longer either of them could last. Her thoughts had turned to Wai and James only briefly as she didn't want to drive herself mad wondering when they would come or worrying over how any of them might get out of this place in one piece. She had taken note of every crack and crevice in the place that she was allowed to see, coldly glad that Trevino liked to brag and show off until he had taken the tour to his bedroom and vowed that she would finish the night there.

Now here she was, back in the dungeons with Trevino lingering behind, promising her that when she was done she would start making up her previous transgressions to him. She reached the blonde and took a second to glower Angelo's way. The moustached Mexican was back on his stool, calm and mildly pleased with himself. "I didn't make him piss himself," he remarked to her crudely without looking up, "he's been here for over two days, when a man's gotta go he's gotta go."

Kendall's hateful gaze hardened at his words. "And you don't let him down, even for that? Puedes morir lento!" she hissed at Angelo hatefully.

Kendall stepped up to the blonde and pressed a palm against his brow, it was roasting and was soaked with sweat.

Felix let out a low moan and murmured, "just through the trees James, just a bit more. It's the sound of fear, she's frightened that's all."

"Shh," Kendall soothed him gently as before. His eyes were closed and he was twitching slightly, completely unaware of her or his surroundings. She glanced over her shoulder at Trevino and felt a fresh hate for him. How could he treat people this way? "His wounds are infected," she said flatly, "and he needs water."

"He'll only piss himself again," Angelo scoffed.

"If he dies then no matter what you do to me I won't help you," Kendall vowed icily to Trevino.

Emmanuel Trevino shrugged back. "Shall I get a nurse for him?" he queried tauntingly. "Stop holding back on me and give me some better routes and I might consider what you ask."

"At least let him have some water," she pleaded.  
Felix started coughing violently bringing up several mouthfuls of sticky blood mixed with mucus. After his minor coughing fit he sagged in his chains with a low groan of pain and a shudder. Kendall started stroking his hair absentmindedly remembering faintly how he had done the same for her back in Jamacia when she had gone into shock after being forced to kill Trevino's men. "Shhh," she repeated calmly, "it'll be alright."

Emmanuel's lip curdled in disgust before he eyed a steel bucket on the floor near Angelo's stool. "Angelo, give him a drink," he instructed with a pointed nod at the bucket. "Kendall step away now."

Kendall obeyed though she was slow, wincing as her left leg throbbed with fresh pain. Her eyes widened in horror as she noticed too late what Angelo was about to do.

Cold, filthy water splashed over Felix's face drawing him back to reality with a gasp and splutter followed by another loud outburst of coughs. "Shit what now?" he complained as he shook his head, spraying water from his hair in all directions. He blinked hard trying to focus his blurred eyes before he finally noticed Kendall's horrified and dejected stare. He took a moment to focus and became conscious of his worsened state and the still damp patch at his inner thigh. Burning with humiliation he snapped at her, "stop coming down here for God's sake! Get out of here already! Forget me and run!" He tensed with a wince and groaned a helpless, "no" before a mouthful of watery, yellow vomit came up with the next set of coughs.

"Well since Mr. Leiter no longer desires your company I think it is time to go," Emmanuel remarked coldly as he took a firm grip on Kendall's left arm. "Come now, it's late, time for bed I think."

Felix and Kendall both tensed at those words. Felix glanced up in their direction as he wondered and feared at the implication of those words. "Don't," the word escaped him before he could help it.

Emmanuel glanced over his shoulder at the blonde with a grin. "She's mine Mr. Leiter, I own her, inside and out, every inch, her mind, her body, it's all mine. You stole her for a while but that was it."

"You don't own people," Felix growled out hatefully.

"On the contrary Mr. Leiter I own many including you and Kendall." He turned away from him and dragged Kendall away.

Kendall was numb as Emmanuel escorted her up five flights of stairs to his private quarters. She came to her senses only when she heard the condemning click of his key in the bedroom door. Avoiding him she glanced about his bedroom once more. A king-size bed with four posts and long, crimson curtains surrounding it took up most of the room, currently the curtains were parted at the front showing four pillows, two cushions and a very decorative crimson and gold threaded throw of dragons and firebirds. There was also a glass cabinet of weapons, locked at the bottom front corner with two spotlights inside to illuminate the possessions that sat on a red velvet cushion. Inside the cabinet there was a kama, old with a chipped, wooden handle, a set of butterfly swords polished to look new and a dagger in a very decorative black and gold hilt with two tassles that didn't look used. Additionally, there was a wardrobe and a set of drawers but little else.

"I need to wash," Emmanuel informed her with a small smile, "but I won't take long. Make me smile tonight Kendall and I won't let your American pet worsen, in fact I'll see to it that his wounds are bathed and he gets water."

Kendall nodded back numbly.

Emmanuel headed for the ensuite bathroom, shutting the door but not locking it. Unbeknowst to the pair, downstairs was now being thrust into chaos as two spies infiltrated the building.

* * *

James and Wai reached the final manhole top, it was thick, heavy and rusted and they knew they weren't going to get it open with simple manpower. Wai sighed and took out a small explosive, stretching up to stick it on. "So much for a quiet entrance," she murmured as she set the detonation for thirty seconds.

Wai and James hastened back from the explosive, crouched down low and waited for the inevitable bang. It came with a satisfactory boom and a clang as the manhole cover was almost blown clean away. James looked across at Wai in the shadows with a questioning expression. "Wasn't that a small explosive?" he quipped dryly.

Wai shrugged. "It'll be fun seeing what the big ones can do." She gestured forward. "After you Mr. Bond."

James headed to the blown away manhole cover curiously, looking up through the haze of smoke to a dark room. It looked like it was possibly a basement. With only one way to find out, he took a couple of seconds more listening for potential danger before he decided to risk it. He jumped up and caught the edge with both hands and hoisted himself up.

The room was small, a storage room for wine bottles and beer caskets, most of which were now lying in a state of ruin, soaking the room and filling it with the sweet fruity odour of alcohol.

"This might be a good way to go out," James jested before he turned back to help Wai out.

"Ugh cheap wine, I don't think so," Wai disagreed.

"I was thinking more we could set it alight on our departure," James suggested.

"Hmm, that could work," Wai retorted.

Through the single wooden door that guarded the room they finally began to hear the sound of concerned residents coming. James reached for a smoke bomb, kicked the door open and threw it out. The corridor immediately filled with smoke and confused and alarmed cries.

James and Wai headed out, blinking hard as the smoke began to sting at their eyes too. James gestured to the left as most of the voices had come from the right. Together they hurried down the corridor. Wai took the lead, crouching and readying her submachine gun as she peered round an open doorway into another room. It was wide open lobby area with at least eight armed men present. Seizing their one chance for surprise, Wai decided to make it a good one and turned her gun into the room and let loose.

James gave a small, approving grin as Wai regarded the room with a serious expression as the rata-ta sound of her gun filled the room, drowning out the death throes of the men within. It fell silent as quickly as it started and Wai snapped, "let's go."

James wondered dully as he followed after the woman with his gun drawn who they were going to find first- Kendall, Felix or Emmanuel Trevino? He realised given the vast structure of the building that they were going to have to question someone.

There was a set of stairs leading up, James spied three men crowding round the balcony up there, drawing out guns and shouting out angrily as they spied James and Wai. BANG! He took out one with a clean shot through the throat. The man tumbled down the stairs with a yell.

BANG! BANG!

Wai ducked and James dodged to the right to avoid the return gunfire.

BANG! James felled another.

BANG! James took care to shoot the third through the hand, disarming him but keeping him alive. He charged up the stairs hastily, grabbed the man by the throat and kneed him hard in the groin. "I want answers fast," he snarled, "where's Trevino?"

The man looked back at James in confusion as he winced in pain.

James tightened his grasp on the man's windpipe. "I won't ask again," he snarled.

James heard more men arriving on the upstairs corridor but Wai's submachine gun was quick to answer them.

"I don't know," the man rasped out in answer, "try the dungeon, he took the girl there to see the American."

"Dungeon?" James echoed in disgust. "Where is it?"

"Downstairs," the man answered sardonically.

James released his throat and smacked him with the side of his gun before pressing the nozzle against his brow warningly. "Narrow that down," he snarled.

The man's eyes widened until the whites were exposed. "Go back down the stairs, through the door on the left, then right, there's a door to a staircase there, go down three flights and you're there."

"Thanks." BANG! James put the man out of his misery. "Wai this way!" he called. He turned back down the stairs and followed the man's directions.

James led the way, pausing at the first door to chuck a smoke bomb down it. Then he forced his way through, kicking and shoving past people in the confusion of the smoke before heading right as per instructions. The door to the staircase was locked but Wai was able to make fast work of it with a lock pick. They headed down into another room of guards. This time James risked the cannister to knock them out. There were six dull thuds as everyone in the room was successfully knocked out.

On to the next floor. James' heart was pounding mildly as he thought of what he might meet. Dungeon, what a crude word, so full of dark promise, already his mind was filling with thoughts of poor Felix's state.

BANG! BANG! Click and reload. Two more minions of Trevino dead.

Finally, they had cleared the last stone staircase and found a coded door and a single guard blocking their way. "Open it," James snarled as he and Wai both raised the nozzles of their guns to him.

The guard shrugged. "Alright, I don't want to die." He turned and keyed in the code, the door clicked free and a bang followed as James eliminated him with a bullet to the back of the skull.

Inside, Angelo jumped to his feet at the sound and stepped back into the shadows for concealement, lash ready in one hand. He watched as James blundered in and was immediately distracted by Felix. The whip struck out from the darkness, snapping at James' hand and tugging it back with enough force to cause him to drop his gun to the floor with a clatter.

It might have been a perfect move for Angelo had Wai not come after James, eyes alert for foes in the darkness. She tugged out a throwing knife and threw it at Angelo's offending hand.

The Mexican gave a yelp of pain as the knife sank into his hand and he was forced to drop his lash.

James took a look at the whip marks on Felix's torso and then looked to the offending weapon with disgust. He strode up to Angelo quickly and punched him hard. Once, twice, three times in the face before the man staggered back from the blows with a gasp of pain. James was ready, full of rage for all of Felix's hurts as he raised his foot and delivered a quick and devastating kick to Angelo's legs. He swept the man's feet out from under him and sent him crashing to the ground.

James bent to lift his gun, raised it and pointed it down at the fallen Mexican. His colder side would have loved to let the man linger on just a little bit more and suffer but he knew that was a waste of valuable time so instead he opted for a shot that would kill but still hurt like hell, it was the best he could do for Felix.

BANG! James' bullet cut through Angelo's stomach promising a slow death but still definitely death. Satisfied with that, James hit the safety on, holstered his gun and moved to Angelo to search his pleading, groaning form for the keys to Felix's cuffs. He found the keys hanging on a chain about the man's neck beneath his shirt and snapped them off before he hastened to Felix's aid.

First James tugged out the soiled gag from the man's bloody mouth with a look of revulsion.

"She won't break, she won't break, she won't break," Felix muttered feverishly to himself under his breath. His head was bowed and his eyes were only half open.

"Felix," James addressed him calmly, "it's James, come to your senses now, we haven't much time." James unlocked the cuffs hastily and cursed when Felix dropped limp to the ground.

The blonde let out an unexpected peal of laughter followed by a loud groan of pain.

"James he's badly injured," Wai remarked coolly, "we need to get him out of here."

James nodded as he hoisted the man to a sitting position and propped him up against the wall. He crouched before him and gave his shoulder a gentle shake. "Felix come on now, I need you here, just for a little while until we're out of here."

Felix let out a rough, bloody cough before he gave another moan of pain and his bloodshot gaze finally settled on James. "James?" he queried in puzzlement.

"That's right Felix, I'm here, couldn't leave you to have all the fun could I?"

Felix cracked a bloody smile at that. "You son of a bitch," he said weakly. "You took your time didn't you?"

James smiled back as he nodded with relief. "Had to keep you on your toes. Now, come on, can you shoot do you think?"

"James," Wai protested.

Felix lifted up his right hand and showed two swollen, black fingers. "Nix, bastard broke two fingers."

James frowned. "Alright Felix." He thought hastily about what to do, he couldn't drag Felix about the house in his condition but they hadn't found Kendall or Trevino yet.

"James where's Kendall?" Felix queried.

James met his friend's worried grey stare and knew that he could not forsake the woman. He sighed and made himself smile. "I'm going to get her," he promised. "Can you walk at all?"

Felix nodded. He tried to push himself to his feet using the wall for support but cried out in pain when his broken fingers refused to aid him and he slid back to the ground. "I can walk but I can't stand," he groaned.

"Here, I'll help," James offered. With effort he yanked the blonde to his feet and looked to Wai. "Wai can you get Felix back to the basement?"

"James," Wai began a protest.

James shook his head. "He needs to get out of here and he can't do that alone," he pointed out. "Please Wai, go there and wait in the manhole." He paused and hunted through his coat for one of the explosives and a detonator before handing it over to the woman. "Give me fifteen minutes, get to the room, set up the charger and key in fifteen minutes, no more," he said solemnly. "One way or another this place is being blown to kingdom come."

Wai nodded back firmly as she accepted the explosive and detonator. "Alright James, fifteen minutes, let's go."


	18. Chapter 18- The End

Kendall felt a thrill of revulsion wash over her as Emmanuel emerged from the bathroom clad only in a pair of black boxers. She tried to quash down her nerves and subdue her quivering, she had to be calm. Emmanuel paused at the foot of the bed and regarded Kendall like she was a prize he had won. She was lying on his bed, head slightly propped up with two pillows wearing only her underwear. His one gripe was that the underwear was simple, lilac cotton pants and a matching bra, no silk or lace. He moved down onto the bed, crawling up it on his hands and knees like a tiger seeking out its pray. Kendall gave a shudder and Emmanuel felt himself harden with the gesture. She was utterly helpless, exactly how he liked his women, a few whimpers out of her and he would be ready, the only thing that could have made it better was if he had the American watching. He had contemplated it but considered that the stench of the Texan might be off-putting and besides, he could always do it another day.

Kendall tensed, waiting and waiting as he drew closer, putting himself in her shadow, crawling closer until his face was above hers. He leaned down without warning, kissing her forcefully, his tongue pushing hard at her lips until they gave way.

Slowly her right arm moved, her hand slinking down and under her waist. She felt his arms move too, they were trying to move under her as well, reaching for her bra, she would have to be fast. Quick as lightning Kendall struck out.

When the blow came Emmanuel was dumbfounded, bathed in shock before the pain set in. By that stage Kendall was already moving on, extending her attack.

The kama, seized from the weapons box she had picked the lock of, was burrowed deep in Emmanuel's groin, tearing up through it to his waist. He let out a strangled choking sound as she yanked the blade up through his stomach, cutting as deep as she could and soaking herself in blood before she tugged it out. As Emmanuel started to slump forward the blade moved again, slicing through his throat to ensure death, blinding Kendall temporarily with blood as she delivered the final blow.

James looked at his watch and cursed, he had just under ten minutes to go. He was heading up through chaos and carnage to Emmanuel's private headquarters. Three men he had beaten and killed before being informed that the boss had dragged Kendall up to his room. He had only three bullets to spare for his gun, his left arm had been penetrated by a bullet, his right leg was grazed, he had a cut above his right eye from a knife wound that was dribbling blood into his eye every five seconds and he was out of knock out cannisters and down to his last smoke bomb.

With relief James reached the door to Emmanuel's room with a pant. BANG! He eliminated a guard with a shot through the chest. Two bullets to go and then he was going to have to use the Browning. He pressed up against the wall sideways, listening for signs of Emmanuel or Kendall. He heard nothing. He decided it to risk it and kicked the door hard, entering with his gun raised and ready for firing.

James froze up as for a precious moment his mind tried to spare him the atrocity before him and attempted to blank it out. He blinked twice and rubbed the blood from his right eye. Kendall was sitting upright in the centre of the bed barely clothed and soaked in blood, at first he had thought she had been injured beyond belief but then he finally took in the form limp beside her.

James moved forward slowly, his gun still raised as he willed the girl to look at him and take him in. "Kendall is he dead?" he queried calmly.

Kendall tensed as her eyes darted over to James in surprise, two turquoise irises burning vengefully before they snapped back to reality and filled with horror. Kendall shook and let the kama in her right hand drop limp to the bed. "Felix needs help," she said calmly.

James was unnerved by her calm and wondered when the shock would come. "Felix is alright," he retorted, "we got him out. Come on, we haven't much time." James felt empty all of a sudden as he half-reached for the girl, reluctant to touch the blood. He had been so determined to kill Emmanuel Trevino that he hadn't considered that someone might beat him to it. Hell he even felt cheated though God knew the girl deserved the kill.

Kendall stood up slowly and stared about the room with a vacant gaze.

"Kendall come on," James urged her. He glanced about the place before striding up to the bed and determining it was as good a place as any to set up an explosion. He hurried with it whilst Kendall dressed, setting it for just under ten minutes.

Kendall reached for her clothes, tugging on her knees, shirt and scuffed shoes, though she didn't bother to button her shirt. She looked back to the kama and plucked it up again. "Okay," she said hoarsely, "let's go."

James let the way out and down. He used up the last two bullets of his Walther PPK on the way and swapped to the Browning. He paused at several pointed to set up the bombs hastily and earned himself another grazing by a bullet for his efforts. He wondered how long it would take the doomed minions to realise there were explosives littered throughout the building or that their boss was dead and about to be blown into tiny little pieces.

Hand in hand, panting, soaked in blood and sweat, Kendall and James finally made it to the basement with only three minutes to spare. There was no time for a reunion with Wai and Felix. The four of them hurried down a narrow sewage tunnel, ran down a slope with a waterfall of sewage and filthy water between the cement paths, and then dodged down and to the left as the explosions began.

The air behind them turned warm and the walls began to shake and crack as explosion after explosion went off. James urged them on, his shouts drowned out by the bangs that called behind them. Felix stumbled and yelped before James grabbed him and dragged him on, almost tearing his arm from his socket.

On and on through sewage and darkness, they ran with their ears ringing, heads banging and hearts pounding. They ran for what felt like hours but could only have been a few minutes before they exited mercifully to the golden light of dawn. Exhausted and relieved, Felix and Kendall collapsed beside one another, groaning in a shared pain as they huddled together leaving it to James and Wai to take out their phones and maps, work out where they were and call for help.

Felix slipped into unconscious almost immediately to his relief, his agony was unmanageable and the only reason he wasn't screaming was because of how hoarse he was. His last thoughts before oblivion took him were wondering and worrying why Kendall was soaked in blood and how badly injured she was.

* * *

When Felix awoke he was surprised first to actually be awake and second to not be in chains. He realised a lot of things had suddenly improved for him- his soiled garments were gone, his injuries were clean and bandaged, and his pain was a little bit more manageable. He became conscious of the soft mattress and pillow beneath him and then suddenly aware of the warm arm wrapped loosely over his stomach. He turned to his right, following the source of the arm and his pale grey eyes widened at the sight of Kendall McKenna's unconscious and surprisingly tranquil face resting on a pillow opposing his as she lay on a bed pushed up beside his.

"It took hours persuading her to sleep," James' voice remarked calmly.

Felix almost jumped at the voice as his eyes darted to his left side where the English spy sat on a wooden and cream padded chair holding a vigil.

"She hasn't let you go the whole time, silly, sentimental woman," James chided.

"Woman?" Felix echoed. "Don't you usually call her girl?" he quipped teasingly.

James sighed. "Girls don't kill their monsters," he commented darkly.

Felix raised his blonde eyebrows at that, his grey gaze darting back to Kendall. "Last I saw of her he was taking her to his room...Did he...I mean I suppose you don't know..." He trailed off and swallowed hard, wincing as the gesture caused a throb of pain.

"No," James assured, knowing what Felix was getting at. "He beat her several times, bruised her and cut her but that was the worst I'm told."

"No," Felix argued quietly, "he did a hell of a lot worse to her, just not that time. So she killed him." He smiled. "Good."

"Yes but no one else knows," James murmured, "she's still a civilian, she would be held up in interrogation for months. It's best everyone thinks you shot him and I sent him up in smoke."

"I shot him?" Felix echoed in bitter surprise. "Like this?"

James shrugged. "You fought through your pain and seized the opportunity. Take the credit Felix, your ass is on the line otherwise."

Felix sighed and sagged back against his pillow. "Alright," he muttered. "Thanks James." He cast his friend a serious look. "Thanks for coming too, you and Wai, for getting us out." He winced. "Shit I couldn't have taken another day of that."

James frowned before glancing away from his friend, putting his stare on the Styrofoam cup of coffee on the plastic table beside him instead. "I can't take another day of this poor excuse for coffee so get well soon," he joked awkwardly.

Felix gave a laugh in response, which quickly turned into a painful, gasping cough.

Kendall shot up in alarm with the noise and looked to Felix with immediate concern.

"I'm okay," he assured her, "it's just James telling poor jokes." He cast a critical glance at James. "It's his way of dealing with his feelings," he added pointedly.

James shrugged in answer.

Felix reached out a bandaged, trembling hand to Kendall and she immediately linked her own with it and looked down at him tearfully. "God Felix I'm so sorry," she said softly.

"What for?" he quipped with a small grin. It hurt too much for him to smile, his mouth and jaw both protested at the gesture. "Kendall this wasn't your fault."

"He wouldn't have hurt you if not for me."

"He was an evil bastard, all he did was hurt people," Felix grumbled.

Kendall dipped her head slightly. "But he hurt you to get at me."

"And you killed him and now it's done," Felix said firmly.

James gave a pointed cough at this.

"Ah, well I killed him apparently," Felix remarked awkwardly. "Makes the paperwork easier and all that, civilians shouldn't really be killing people." He winced when tears started trickling down from Kendall's eyes and glanced over at James. "James help me up."

James sighed before he leaned forward and helped Felix into a sitting position, adjusting his bed with a button and earning several curses and winces from the blonde for his efforts. "If the nurse asks you did this yourself," the Englishman remarked dryly.

Felix glanced down at his bandaged torso and bandaged left arm. "Sure I did," he grumbled. He fumbled with his injured right hand, cursing to himself as he fidgeted with his blanket.

"Now what are you trying to do?" James quipped in amusement.

"I'm trying to lift this stupid blanket so that I can put it around myself and Kendall because she is clearly distraught and I'm trying to be nice," Felix grumbled to the blanket in his lap, "and fuck this isn't easy!"

James chortled quietly, ignoring Felix's fierce look of ire before he leaned forward and lifted the blanket up and draped it around Felix's shoulders. He extended Felix's right arm out slightly and said, "now, think you can manage and I'll go back to pretending I'm not here?"

"Pretend better," Felix snarled. He managed to slowly put his right arm about Kendall's stiff form and attempted to tug her close, which caused another squeal of pain as his injured fingers tightened.

Kendall looked at him with distraught eyes.

"Come on Kendall," Felix murmured gently, "this is the best I can do but I know you need to cry and damn it I ain't letting you sit there crying to the wall."

Kendall's lip trembled before she pressed her head lightly against Felix's chest and started sobbing.

Felix sighed as he bowed his head down to her and felt like crying himself. He didn't, he blinked hard instead and twitched slightly before closing his eyes.

James leaned forward just once to quietly fix the blanket about the pair before helping Felix to settle back against the bed with Kendall. Then James sat back in his seat, rigid and quiet, once more pretending that he wasn't there. He glimpsed a stray tear slink down his friend's left cheek and knew that the Texan was traumatised from what he had been through, that only with Kendall's grief and shock was his own coming out. James felt guilty for spying Felix's moment of weakness and looked away.

Kendall sobbed herself into hoarseness and then that awful, woeful keening noise came. The bestial noise drew James' attention back to Kendall and he watched, transfixed in horror, as she made the noise while awake, suffering not from a nightmare but from the horror of a memory, the memory of murdering a monster and briefly becoming one herself.

Felix didn't say anything, he hadn't the words and his body was too stiff and sore to offer anything in the way of consoling gestures for the girl. Instead he remained quiet, biting back his own whimpers of pain as she burrowed too hard against his wounded chest and gripped his broken fingers too tightly. He waited and waited until she fell silent, then he kissed the top of her brow and murmured reassuringly, "there now, the worst is over."

"Just like that?" she queried hoarsely as he knew she would.

Felix smiled. "Just like that."

* * *

Three Months Later- Hawaii

James Bond and Wai Lin shared a smile as they caught each other's gaze across the table. A giggle drew their attention to the left where an occupied bubbling hot tub was starting to see a little more action than it was probably intended for.

"Maybe we should go to the beach," Wai suggested lightly before taking a sip from her cocktail glass. The raven haired beauty wasn't sure why she had come here. Perhaps it was because she felt she had earned a vacation. It was a fantasy played for real, for a temporary time period anyway and it wasn't like Wai to give into those but as James had pointed out, as news coverage had shown, his explosion of Emmanuel Trevino's house had been pretty spectacular. Wai had only agreed to a night but really who could turn down an all expenses paid trip to Hawaii? Plus it had been three months since she had seen James and she had been wondering about him despite herself. She had wondered about Felix and Kendall's welfare too, to a lesser degree, she hardly knew them after all, but it was nice to see them well and happy.

James followed Wai's gaze to the hot tub as Felix undid the purple strings of Kendall's bikini top and abandoned the garment to the edge of the hot tub. Mercifully for Kendall the bubbles kept her breasts from view, not that she seemed to mind as she giggled and allowed Felix to embrace her close and kiss her hard. James had wondered about the pair on a daily basis, he had left the hospital in China after three weeks, summoned back to England to make a report in person. Felix had been taken back to America to resume his recovery, escorted by Jack Wade who had promised James that he wouldn't let Kendall get abandoned through the cracks.

Of course James had had contact with Felix since via phone calls but the CIA agent had been coy about his status with Kendall. James had known the American wouldn't give her up, whether it was because of all they had been through, sheer stubbornness on his part, a fear that she couldn't rehabilitate without him or because, heaven help him, he actually had strong feelings for her, whatever the reasoning James had been certain Felix would stay with Kendall even if it meant risking his job.

Felix was still CIA, he had confided that to James, and now living with Kendall in a quaint house in Texas with a white picket fence. It was a disgusting cliché and neither he nor Kendall liked the area particularly but it was better being in a safe neighbourhood and all that, and a place where the CIA could feel assured of his presence and hers. Washington wasn't happy about it, nope not one bit, but they couldn't go around telling their agents who to date now could they? It wasn't like she had been willingly working for Trevino and she wasn't working for him now.

James had quipped innocently about Kendall's forgotten boyfriend whom Trevino had taken her from over two years ago. Felix had grumbled back with several curse words that yes she had met the man, course she had to do that to see that he was okay and reassure him that she was, but there were no feelings there, hadn't been to begin with, he'd just been a fling.

So for Felix and Kendall it wasn't just a romance for the time of the mission, a moment of heated passion to be forgotten when reality kicked in. It was a jarring thought for James that Felix now lived with her, that he had a girlfriend, a woman at home to think about when he went on his missions, a woman to worry about, to be threatened with. Nope James, Felix had reassured him, it wasn't like that at all. Kendall could handle herself, hadn't she proved that umpteen times? She was a woman to come home to, a woman to worry about him, to assure him that someone would care if he didn't make it back, a woman who he knew would welcome him with a honeyed kiss and a warm embrace and yeah that did feel good.

James had been fascinated by it, it was an almost alien concept for him. Yes there had been that one time when he had dared to dream and hope and imagine the house with the fence and the dog and the kids. He shuddered, even now he couldn't think on that time or the name of the woman he had pictured that life with. His cerulean gaze darted over to Wai Lin and he wondered if she had ever had that dream, if she had ever come as close to touching it as he had or closer. Now it was Felix's turn to brush up against that golden bubble and hope to God that it didn't burst. James wished him well, he did, but still he wondered how long it could last. Would the novelty wear off? Would you not grow tired of the same person? Would they not start to resent you for darting off around the world for unknown time periods? Well at least Kendall knew what to expect with Felix, his job was no secret to her.

James looked back to the pair again, they seemed to have forgotten James and Wai entirely. Hands wrapped around each other, lips locked together, it was sickening and yet sweet. James tensed slightly, sweet until the underwater thrusting started on Felix's part. They really had forgotten about James and Wai.

James turned back to his vodka martini and drained it. "Yes let's go to the beach," he murmured.

Kendall still got the nightmares, worse than ever, it was rare for her to go a night without that woeful wailing sound but Felix didn't mind. He understood. Some nights she would awaken him shaking and sobbing, screaming about bloody hands, shrieking and shrieking over and over about the red stains like Lady Macbeth and that damned spot. Those nights Felix would get up irregardless of the hour and sleepily run her a hot bath or a shower, it just depended, and then he would take her into it and embrace her close in the water until she felt clean again. He didn't mind that either, sometimes that ended with a soft, quiet moment of lovemaking in the water. Kendall liked sex in the bath or shower best, it didn't hurt her as much. She was still healing, old wounds and new, mental and physical. She had a therapist but Felix had no idea if that helped or not, he didn't pry and she didn't volunteer, he wanted her to feel free to have her secrets. Hell he just wanted her to feel free.

Felix didn't have nightmares, he wasn't one for dreaming and if he did dream he never remembered. He showed his mental trauma in other ways- he still smiled, he was still happy go lucky and confident but he was a little sharper at times, a little bit warier and edgier and sometimes, without warning or explanation, he would fall into a sombre quiet, his eyes would burn at the edges and his hands would twitch a little. In those moments Kendall would stroke his blonde curls gently with her hand, weaving her fingers soothingly in his scalp and down about his brow, and she would take whatever handle trembled the most in her free hand and squeeze it tenderly. Then she would kiss him gently on the mouth, give him a look that said she knew and murmur quietly, "I understand."

Felix had cried only once over what had happened to him. After he had left the hospital and gone through a dozen reports and reprimands and meetings with Washington that managed to be equal parts scolding and praising. Good job Felix but you shouldn't have been over there asshole. You got wounded on the job, Hell you could have been killed. In the end it was decided that he was to be neither punished nor rewarded, no demotion but no promotion either, no pay raise but paid vacation time instead. The meetings and constant recollections of events had worn him down. Kendall had found him one evening on his knees sobbing erratically. She hadn't said anything, she had just got him up, brought him into bed and hugged him close until he fell into a deep sleep.

Kendall climaxed first, giving Felix an impressive cry of pleasure prompting him into his own grand finish. He ended it with a close embrace and a kiss before leaning back against the edge of the tub with a tired but blissful sigh. This was paradise, to hell with the gorgeous scenery over the balcony behind them, this was it right here. He shut his eyes and let the sun warm his face briefly as he tugged Kendall close to him with his right arm.

Kendall wrapped her own arm around him and shut her eyes as she pressed the side of her head against him sleepily.

Felix suddenly opened his grey eyes sharply feeling a moment of sheepishness. He sat up slightly to look at the round table just a few feet away from the tub. There were four vacant seats and two empty glasses. "God I hope they left before that," he murmured aloud.

Kendall gave a giggle at this, she had quite forgotten about James and Wai and felt a prickle of guilt. The holiday had been James' idea after all and he had picked the hotel and arranged the bookings. Two double suites beside each other sharing a hot tub between them with a view of one of the many spotless golden beaches Hawaii was famous for.

Wai at least made a better companion that Celestine, she matched James in the game of wits, keeping on his toes at all costs and she was pleasant, humorous and always outgoing. What Kendall knew of her she admired and liked, she knew they weren't going to become good friends or anything like that but she could appreciate her company for the time being.

In two weeks time this would all be over, James would go back to England, Wai would go back to China, and Felix and Kendall would return to Texas. Then the next mission would come, they might be together or they might be separate but it would come for all of them and their events with Emmanuel Trevino would fade to a footnote, another day at the office as Felix liked to jest. There would be villains worse than Emmanuel to face, Kendall knew that and she accepted it and could only be glad that her role with that world was done. Felix had asked her once if she wanted his role in that world to be done too but she had told him no, that at least if he was out there with James then a difference might be made.

* * *

 _Woo three for the price of one, I guess cause the weekend's over and I'm back to work so I'm pleased to get this done. And it really is done, wow, I have to say I didn't see it ending like this when I started it. Hmm what can I say? This really was the Felix Leiter show, he gets so little love so I'm pleased with that. Many thanks for all the reviews, alerts and favs, special thanks to Si1verEye and saye0036, you guys definitely kept this fic going!_

 _Gosh it got really dark didn't it? Sometimes I can't help myself with that, I like to make my characters really earn that happy ending and hey they got didn't they? I know, sickeningly sweet but it's done so I'm not bothered. It was my first venture at any kind of James Bond fic and I have wanted to do one for so long so I'm definitely pleased with it even if it was more of a Felix Leiter fic. Gosh I absolutely loved writing Felix Leiter's character, I do hope I did him justice! I love him and James as a team and yeah I'd like to write more of them but who knows if I will. I don't know how that would work with Kendall and for all her ups and downs she is my OC and I'm pleased with her too and I don't know, I think if there was a sequel she'd have to be in it somehow so I really don't know. Maybe some oneshots or something, I've often thought about writing from Felix's POV so who knows..._

 _Again many, many thanks!_


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